‘Something needs to change immediately or these small communities that don’t have other employers are going to wither and die’
High log prices and dwindling timber supply are driving the crisis in B.C.’s forestry industry that has devastated communities and kneecapped the provincial economy, observers say.
The local represents hundreds of forestry workers who have lost jobs in Interior communities including Merritt, Clearwater, Vavenby and Clinton. Stumpage is a fee businesses pay when they harvest timber from Crown land. The provincial government calculates stumpage annually, so the system is less responsive than in Alberta, where monthly adjustments are made, Gibbons said.
“It is well-known that any interference in B.C.’s market-based timber pricing system would lead to an increase in softwood lumber duties levied by the U.S.,” it said. Peacock said the high cost of logs is the major cause of the industry’s decline in B.C. He also blamed the mountain pine beetle and record-breaking 2017 and 2018 fire seasons for decimating supply.
The Business Council of B.C. just trimmed its 2019 economic forecast in part because of the forestry downturn, from 2.2 to 2 per cent growth, he said. The B.C. government also just cut its forecast to 1.7 per cent, citing mill closures in part.
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