Do you remember when Premier John Horgan agreed to implement the 14 recommendations for forestry reform?
Did he say Ottawa had to pay him to do the right thing? Do you remember that more deferrals of old-growth logging were supposed to happen this summer? Did the premier say, ‘just as soon as the federal government pays me to do the right thing’?
We were promised that old-growth forests could be saved just as soon as a new committee chose which forests to save. Still I didn’t hear about money. It was about principles.
What I heard was that we had to wait for more consultation with Indigenous stakeholders. How long does that take? Did anyone ask the Indigenous stakeholders what amount of money would make it attractive for them to conserve old growth forests? Who was at the table for those meetings?
Now it seems that B.C. won’t pause the saws until the $50 million offered by the federal government is more like $500 million. Are the Indigenous stakeholders driving a hard bargain or is someone just stalling?
Trees can either stand or lie. Once they lie they cannot stand again. People can stand and lie at the same time, and can do so repeatedly.
Bev Bacon
Metchosin
