Vaughn Palmer: New forests minister has been promising to restore industry confidence in government
VICTORIA — The New Democrats provoked little controversy with the commitments they made to the Greens in exchange for that party’s support in the legislature.
Many items in the accord announced in December — such as the expansion of community health or a review of the Clean B.C. program — were already NDP priorities.
Other provisions were mere agreements to talk, like the promise of a legislature committee “to review and consider preferred methods of proportional representation.”
The funding commitments — more money for community health, heat pumps and so on — were costed at $200 million, a mere fraction of the David Eby government’s projected deficit of $9.4 billion.
However, one item in the NDP-Green accord provoked a backlash because of the potential impact on the forest industry and the softwood lumber trade with the U.S.
The New Democrats pledged to “work with the B.C. Green caucus to undertake a review of B.C. forests with First Nations, workers, unions, business and community to address concerns around sustainability, jobs, environmental protection and the future of the industry.”
Green MLAs Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote “will be fully involved in all elements of the review and the resulting report will be made public within 45 days of completion.”
So said the agreement in principle released on Friday, Dec. 13.
Three days later, the Council of Forest Industries put out a cautionary statement.
“Another review of forest policy in B.C. should not be a priority right now,” said CEO Linda Coady. “Premier Eby has already publicly acknowledged that rising U.S. duties and tariffs on forest products would have a ‘devastating’ impact on thousands of jobs in resource communities across the province.
Now is the time for urgent action on the commitments the government has already made to maintaining a competitive and sustainable forest products manufacturing sector in B.C.”
Just last year the premier pledged to address “fibre supply shortages behind mill closures and curtailments, and what needs to be done to promote value-added wood products and protect forestry jobs.”
The government should deliver on that commitment “before another review is launched,” urged Coady.
Expanding on those concerns about the review was forester David Elstone. He’s managing director of the Spar Tree group and proprietor of the View from the Stump, a newsletter on forest policy.
“The two parties in their wisdom, have agreed to a review while the B.C. forest industry is literally in its death throes,” Elstone wrote last month.
“People, please we are in a Code Red situation, not an Orange and Green love-in when it comes to solutions and immediate action for the survival of B.C. forestry.
“President-elect Trump’s proposed 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and the U.S. softwood lumber duties of 14.4 per cent, which are expected to double next year will bring the B.C. forest sector to a stop.
“If there is one thing the B.C. forest sector most definitely does not need is more uncertainty. It is the absolute worst idea at this moment in time.”
Elstone, like Coady, noted how the review was at odds with statements by the new forests minister, Ravi Parmar.
Within days of being appointed to the cabinet in November, Parmar was on the road in the northern half of the province, dispensing assurances to forest-industry dependent communities — Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake, Houston — that he was already on the job.
“You do not have a guy who wants to spend the next six months developing the next flashy vision roadmap framework, you name it,” he told reporter Cheryl Jahn of Prince George radio station CKPG. “I want to get to work.”
“It is going to be a tough file,” Parmar conceded. “But I believe forestry in B.C. can continue to be an incredible thing for our economy and continue to deliver in big ways for workers and families right off the top.”
He readily listed his three priorities: restoring confidence in the sector, standing up for workers, and following through on commitments to Indigenous people.
Not on the to-do list: presiding over yet another review.
“Now is the time to be bold,” said Parmar in a followup interview with Rob Shaw of the Northern Beat online news service.
“You are not going to see a bunch of frameworks and vision statements and grandiose plans. We’ve done all of that work. For me, it’s now (about) focusing on those clear objectives on what we need to accomplish to have a robust, sustainable industry for the next decades.”
Parmar announced his priorities before his own government and the Greens released the text of their accord.
Given the centralized ways of the Eby government, Parmar may not have been consulted about what sounds very much like another grandiose and unnecessary review. The ministry may have been kept in the dark as well.
The review is listed in the accord primarily as a matter of “environment” policy as opposed to economic growth, resource development, or job creation.
That should make it clear which side of the NDP-Green relationship is calling the shots regarding the future of forestry in B.C.