Forest industry groups in British Columbia say the forest sector is at a “breaking point,” and are calling on the B.C. government to strike a new provincial crisis action group.
“Its mandate should be clear: get economically viable wood moving, reduce costs, remove regulatory barriers, stabilize fibre supply, protect operating businesses, and retain—not retrain—British Columbia’s skilled forestry workforce,” the groups said in a letter dated Sept. 4 but released publicly on Wednesday.
The signatories include the B.C. Council of Forest Industries (COFI) and organizations representing loggers, manufacturers, steelworkers and other parts of the industry.
The groups said the recent escalation of the Canada-U.S. trade war has made provincial action more urgent.
The Trump administration has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on a range of Canadian goods that includes manufactured wood products like plywood and veneer. They came as the softwood lumber sector was already grappling with about 45 per cent U.S. duties imposed last year.
A federal task force was launched early this year with a mandate to identify practical measures to transform the beleaguered sector. The final report from the task force found that provincial policies are among the most significant barriers to competitiveness.
The industry groups said in their letter they believe B.C. could increase the economically viable harvest from the province’s current projection of approximately 29 million cubic metres toward 45 million cubic metres.
“This does not mean lowering environmental standards, diminishing consultation obligations or compromising responsible forest management. It means bringing urgency, coordination and accountability to decisions that are essential to British Columbia’s economic survival,” the groups said.
They said B.C. should also work with industry and First Nations to identify and resolve barriers preventing wood from reaching BC manufacturers.
“There are economically viable timber opportunities capable of supporting existing mills, manufacturers, contractors and workers that are being delayed by permitting, approval processes and unresolved administrative barriers,” they said.
They also call for a freeze on new provincial fees, taxes and other government-imposed cost increases on the sector.
COFI said last month that at least 21 B.C. lumber mills have closed since 2023, and four pulp mills have also closed in the last nine months. It said more than 15,000 forestry jobs have been lost since 2022.
“Our priority must be to retain the skilled workers, contractors, manufacturers, businesses and industrial infrastructure British Columbia will need for the future. Once that capacity disappears, rebuilding it will be extraordinarily difficult,” the industry groups said in their letter.
Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said Wednesday he and the premier will hold a meeting with the signatories of the letter.
He said the crisis facing B.C.’s forestry sector has been more than 50 years in the making.
“I know given the conversations I’ve had on the ground and every part of this province, the path forward for forestry must be moving us away from a boom-and-bust cycle to one that is structurally sound and stable,” said Parmar.
The province announced last month it would be testing a new forest management model in select areas of B.C. It acknowledged that the current system of permitting on a case-by-case basis often causes delays for forestry activities as well as restoration and conservation efforts.
The proposed model would assign land into one of three different categories: “working forest” zones for commercial harvesting, conservation and protection zones, and “multiple-use” zones. It aligns with the triad model endorsed in the report from the federal task force.
Parmar said he believes the new model would address concerns the industry has long been raising.
“I believe the future of forestry when it comes to permitting is a future where we have all of this planning done in the initial stages through forest landscape plans that then result in the ability for a company to have predictability to know exactly where they’re going to go harvest,” he said.
The forestry groups are calling on the province to release a public action plan for the sector within 30 days that identifies specific measures and includes firm timelines for planned actions.
