B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad says B.C. needs to "get back to a place where we respect our forest sector."
Rustad was in Vanderhoof Saturday (Sept. 14) to announce his party's policies associated with the forestry industry.
He listed several pillars to the policy, including: defining the land area that will be prioritized for the harvest of primary forest products and meeting of biodiversity goals; replacing stumpage with a value-added end product tax; implementing a "one project, one permit" process; undertaking a complete review of how wildfires are managed in B.C.; and investing in workforce training for the forest sector, "so British Columbians can access the expanded opportunities that will be created."
The first thing that needs to be done, he said, is creating certainty for the forest sector.
Rustad said when speaking to the CEO of Canfor about the Fort St. John mill, he said he was told it "was 3.2 years to get a permit, just a single-cutting permit."
"This is unacceptable, and partly because of the instability that this government has created on our land base."
Canfor announced on Sept. 4 it would be ceasing operations at two mills, in Vanderhoof and Fort St. John. The company cited weak lumber markets and financial loses among other reasons.
Rustad said B.C. has about 60 milion hectares of forested land, and "around 38 million will never see industrial forest activity." He said it will stay in its original forest state.
"Our remaining 22 million hectares is where we are going to be looking at in terms of operating for our sawmills. We need to have certainty in terms of a portion of that land base that is available to meet our primary forest needs."
Earlier in the week, Premier David Eby said his government will look to connect existing tenures with new users as part of responding to those closures.
"We got companies that need those trees and that are creating jobs and supporting people in the province. Those trees are valuable. We have skilled workers and we are going to find ways to reconnect those trees with the people who are creating jobs and preserving jobs in our province."
– With files from Wolfgang Depner
