The BC Liberals launched their new forestry agenda this week, touting investments in wood product innovation, reforestation and forest management as key to revitalizing the industry. But not everyone is reassured.
“It’s a series of half-measures, not a real plan that is needed to put forestry back on its feet,” says Harry Bains, Forestry Critic for the BC NDP. “The industry that built this province for 150 years and the communities that benefitted from the industry have been suffering for the last 15 years.”
Bains wants to see heavier investment in the health of provincial forests and the value added side of the industry. He says the challenges the industry is facing are due in large part to Liberal policies.
“Mills are now running at full capacity because of lack of logs but at the same time we see a record level of raw log export. Value-added industry is decimated – it’s shrunk to less than half.”
According to Bains, 25,000 forestry jobs have been lost under the Liberal’s watch and 150 sawmills have closed their doors.
He also finds the timing of the government’s new forestry agenda a bit too convenient.
“All of a sudden, just before the election, while they’ve been sleeping on the switch for the last 15 years, now they feel that they need to do something and they come back with some announcements and some half measured approach. They need to do a lot more.”
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