James Gorman

At the B.C. Business Summit 2025, James Gorman, Senior VP at West Fraser, offered a clear-eyed view of the challenges facing Canada’s forest sector and the policy choices that could restore its competitiveness. “We’ve been in a softwood lumber dispute with the US since 2016,” he said. …Gorman noted that only about 3% of total Canadian mill capacity is needed to serve the home market. “We’re therefore highly dependent on U.S. housing demand,” he said. “Flat markets can’t take these high duty rates, and the result is significant headwinds for Canadian producers.” Gorman said BC still has one of the world’s most robust forest resource bases. But the system that allocates and prices fibre needs reform. “First Nations are receiving more decision-making power, but not meaningful revenue sharing,” he said. “It should be 50–50. That would unlock fibre, create stability, and bring First Nations fully into the forestry economy.”