More than 100 semi trucks arrived in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon to draw attention to B.C.’s forestry workers struggling in the face of significant job losses.
You can see everyone start to cheer as the logging trucks come by. They been circling for around 15-20 minutes now. @BlackPressMedia pic.twitter.com/gCKZP2Yak7
— Kat Slepian (@katslepian) September 25, 2019
Hundreds of people gathered at the Vancouver Convention Centre to watch the trucks loop a section of the downtown core. High log prices and a declining timber supply have prompted several recent mill curtailments and closures in B.C., affecting thousands of workers.
Due to a traveling protest bus service is experiencing delays. Please see our Alerts page at https://t.co/V591GaQXfN to check on your route. Info is being added as it becomes available, we apologize for the inconvenience.
— TransLink BC (@TransLink) September 25, 2019
The convoy began in the wee hours, leaving Prince George and stopping to pick up truckers in Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile, Merritt and Hope, on their way to the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention.
The drivers were met with dozens of supporters as they drove through communities impacted by recent mill closures, honking as people waved from the roadside.
The trucks, many with flags and handpainted banners, pulled up to Hope at about 1 p.m.
Several people gathered on overpasses over Highway 1 to cheer them on.
“You get to hear everything they’re going through there,” said Shari Stephens, who works at the Flying J Truck Stop in Hope, as she waved at the trucks passing underneath the overpass.
In Vancouver, Stuey Wheeler, who owns a logging equipment business in Delta, was out with his family to cheer on the convoy.
“We have about three builds left in the shop but after that we don’t really have anything on the books,” he told Black Press Media.
READ MORE: ‘It’s hurting everybody’: Langley family worries about their business amid logging downturn
The convoy members are calling for an immediate change to stumpage rates in B.C., which are based on what companies pay for logs through BC Timber Sales, and to bring back an agreement that ties timber in a given region to specific sawmills.
A spokesperson for the province said Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and Parliamentary Secretary Ravi Kahlon, who is the MLA for Delta North, were meeting with convoy leaders Wednesday afternoon.
Whole families are here at the logging truck convoy in Vancouver today with signs that say “logs=jobs” and “forestry feeds my family. @BlackPressMedia pic.twitter.com/nP456r0wmh
— Kat Slepian (@katslepian) September 25, 2019
‘We’re all getting hit hard’: Cariboo loggers to join truck rally and protest job losses
The B.C. government announced early retirement and training funds for out-of-work loggers, in part by transferring from money a fund meant to spur economic diversification in rural communities.
- with files from Jessica Peters and Ashley Wadhwani
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