Region Archives: Canada

Business & Politics

Labour Day – a holiday born in Canada

Canadian Labour Congress
September 4, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

The first Monday in September has been an official holiday in Canada since 1894, and in the United States since 1892. But the origin of Labour Day came 20 years before that, when unions started holding parades and rallies in Toronto and Ottawa to celebrate the successful 1872 Toronto printers’ strike – that won the decriminalization of unions in Canada. …the origins of Labour Day come from the struggles of working people and the demand for fairness. In this case, it was the movement to establish a 9-hour work day (the standard was a 12-hour work day and a 6-day work week) and a strike by printers in Toronto in the spring of 1872 to get it. …In 1882, an American labour leader witnessed the annual May “labour day” festivities in Toronto which inspired him to organize the first American “labor day” on September 5 that same year. …In Canada, pressure had been mounting to declare a national labour holiday. On July 23, 1894 the government of Prime Minister John Thompson passed a law making Labour Day official. 

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Steelworkers join Canadian and Mexican unions in calling for improved labour rights protections in trade negotiations between Mexico, Canada and U.S.

United Steelworkers
September 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada

Unions and labour activists from across Canada, Mexico and the United States are united in their demand that stronger protections for workers’ rights must be included in any new trade deal negotiated between the governments. Multinational corporations continue to pit workers against each other in a race to the bottom across the three countries. Pro-employer protection unions remain prevalent in Mexico, obstructing the ability of workers to organize and collectively improve their conditions. The rights of workers to freely form unions and negotiate with their employers continue to be routinely violated, despite the provisions of the Labour Chapter of the Canada-United States- Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). …On behalf of workers across Canada, Mexico and the United States, we call on our governments to ensure that trade in North America raises standards for employment and working conditions in all three countries.

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US-Canada Trade War Serves No Intelligible Purpose

By the Editorial Board
Bloomberg Opinion
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

One of the world’s closest trading relationships is about to break down at enormous cost to both countries — and for no intelligible reason. …Canadian Prime Minister Carney suggested the US made unacceptable last-minute demands, including measures that would “compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.” US Trade Representative Greer said Canada inexplicably turned its back on improvements that would’ve made a good deal for both sides even better. That claim was hardly credible. This White House has shown no interest in mutual advantage. …American voters, on the other hand, may be unwilling to bear any burden merely to show Canada who’s boss. …US businesses are puzzled too. Many American companies have supply-chains tightly linking domestic and Canadian operations. …But it isn’t too late to step back. Washington should revert to the terms in play before the talks collapsed. …If the worst happens, who are Americans heading to the polls in November going to blame?

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Trump’s threats against Canada are self-defeating

By Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative during NAFTA negotiations
The Financial Times
August 30, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Robert Zoellick

Why must President Trump bully Canada? Americans might not take jibes about the “51st state” seriously, but what Canadians see is an attack on their independence and even unity. They acknowledge US economic power, but expect Americans to keep their word. In contrast, Trump wants to bind Canada while being free to change terms whenever he wishes. …President Reagan recognised that an integrated North America offers the US a firmer continental foundation for projecting influence globally. By building closer ties, the three democracies of North America could enjoy energy self-sufficiency and even exports, access to key minerals, manufacturing efficiencies, more secure supply chains, a larger market for innovation and better demographics than the rest of the world. …US goods and services trade with Canada has grown to about $900bn a year — and is almost in balance. …No American leader should dishonour the country’s past by treating our closest partners so shabbily. 

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Which Trump-Supporting States Will Feel Canada’s Tariff Fury?

The Walrus Magazine
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The complete index of American products subject to Canadian retaliatory tariffs on September 8 include more than 600 different entries. Searching for patterns can drive you to madness. Butterfly nets will be hit with a 50 percent tariff. So will eye make-up preparations and fish egg incubators. …When asked about the decision-making process, industry minister Mélanie Joly said some goods are meant to hurt Trump-supporting states, though she declined to say which. …States with Republican senators, such as Maine, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Texas, all have substantive trade relationships with Canada—and are considered possible battleground states. Some experts are calling the issue “a political trap for Republicans,” with Democrats already seizing on the matter as a talking point. Here’s a look at some of the red states vulnerable to Canada’s new round of tariffs and the industries that may feel the most hardship.

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U.S. Senator says returning to CUSMA negotiation best path to repair fractured trade relationship

By Sydney Ko
iPolitics
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Ruben Gallego

U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego says returning to the CUSMA negotiating table is the best path toward repairing the fractured Canada-U.S trade relationship. …“I think we should be repealing all of our tariffs between the United States and Canada,” Gallego said on Tuesday in the U.S. Embassy. The Arizona Democrat said his visit was intended in part to reassure Canadians that Democrats do not share Trump’s administrative approach to the relationship, while emphasizing the economic stakes for his home state. This comes as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is set to introduce legislation to repeal President Trump’s latest tariffs on Canadian goods, as well as the separate duties that the Trump administration says are linked to forced labour supply chains. …Gellego said the effects of the trade dispute are already being felt in the U.S., pointing to housing as one example because of American reliance on Canadian lumber.

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Sustainable Forestry Initiative Announces Matthew Reddy as New Chief Executive Officer

Sustainable Forestry Initiative
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Ottawa, ON and Washington, D.C. – The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is pleased to announce Matthew Reddy as the next Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1, 2026. “On behalf of the SFI Board of Directors, I have the pleasure of announcing Matthew Reddy in the role of CEO of SFI. Matthew’s global perspective and executive leadership experience have prepared him to lead SFI into its next chapter. He brings deep knowledge of the forestry sector and a strong understanding of global investment landscapes, developed through his work at the intersection of sustainability, conservation, business, and finance,” said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation and Chair of the SFI Board of Directors. Matthew brings more than two decades of executive leadership experience spanning sustainable forestry, conservation, climate and biodiversity initiatives, commodity certification systems, and public-private partnerships. 

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The Real Risk of a Trade War With Canada: America Needs Its Neighbors to Counter China

By Chad Brown, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Foreign Affairs News
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The more the United States undertakes comprehensive efforts to reduce its vulnerability to Chinese economic coercion, the more important it becomes for Canada and Mexico to align their own policies. Misaligned tariff rates across the three countries incentivize the transshipment of Chinese goods to U.S. consumers. …Fundamental differences among the three countries allow for specialization based on what workers and companies in each do best. …Trump’s 2025 and 2026 tariffs pursued too many contradictory objectives. Beijing’s economic coercion clarified the most important task: to quickly create new sources of supply outside China. The ongoing USMCA negotiations present a political opportunity to pursue that objective by better aligning the countries’ tariff policies along three dimensions. …Then, Canada and Mexico need to raise some of their tariffs on China. …The most immediate need is for the Trump administration to stop implementing policies and circulating rhetoric that undermine North American unity.

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The US-Canada trade war in 5 charts

Nadine Yousif, Jessica Murphy, Jess Carr & Daniel Wainwright
BBC News
August 30, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

The US and Canada appear no closer to resolving their ongoing trade dispute. Here are five charts to help break it all down.

  • The Royal Bank of Canada estimates that Ontario and Quebec are the most impacted by US sectoral tariffs. …Additional US tariffs on $20bn worth of Canadian goods are expected to impact all provinces in some way, though BC, Quebec and Ontario will feel the brunt.
  • Swing states in the cross hairs …The swing state of Ohio will be hardest hit, followed by Illinois and Pennsylvania.
  • From the lowest tariff rates to one with the pack… the average effective US tariff rate on Canada is now higher than Mexico’s, and is approaching the UK and Vietnam.
  • Canada’s exports are going elsewhere… Canada’s exports beyond the US have risen sharply since tariffs were introduced.
  • Fewer jobs and less disposable income… on both sides of the border, tariffs have hit jobs and disposable income.

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Shuswap Band and Canfor sign new relationship agreement.

Canfor Corporation
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

The Shuswap Band and Canfor have signed a relationship agreement that formalizes their commitment to ongoing collaboration and strengthens a longstanding relationship built on respect and communication. The new agreement establishes a framework for ongoing engagement, forest stewardship, economic participation and community collaboration. “This agreement represents an important step in advancing our relationship with the Shuswap Band,” said Mathew Parras, Vice President, Canadian Operations, Canfor. “We’re excited about the mutually beneficial opportunities ahead and proud to work alongside a partner that is equally committed to creating lasting benefits for both our organizations and the communities we serve.” “Shuswap Band has long recognized that forests are fundamental to the livelihood of Indigenous Peoples and are critically important for subsistence, economic, and ceremonial practices,” said Kukpi7 Barb Cote. …The agreement establishes support and a structured framework for engagement, creating regular opportunities to collaborate on community initiatives, forest stewardship, and economic development opportunities.

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Defence minister non-committal on Crofton navy base proposal

By Michael John Lo
The Times Colonist
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

David McGuinty

National Defence Minister David McGuinty says the federal government has received a proposal to turn the pulp and paper mill site at Crofton into a navy base, but made no commitments. McGuinty said similar offers are received “weekly” from across the country offering locations, assets and infrastructure to his department. …Greater Victoria remains the “most strategic location” for Canada when it comes to Pacific operations, said McGuinty. …Jeff Kibble, MP for Cowichan-Malahat Langford, has been campaigning for the federal government to consider a new base in Crofton to help ease future congestion at CFB Esquimalt. The Crofton site, which is up for sale following the closure of the Domtar pulp and paper mill, has both industrial capability and a deep-water port. …Rear-Admiral David Patchell, said that there are currently no plans for a second navy base in BC.

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Mission businesses grapple with uncertainty amid Canada-U.S. trade war

By Dillon White
The Mission Record
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

For Mission businesses enduring the trade war with the United States, uncertainty is the real killer. …A spokesperson for Gill Timbers International, a local timber and lumber exporter, said the trade war is devastating for businesses on both sides of the border. “Businesses can only thrive on certainties,” the spokesperson said. Gill Timbers International estimates that about 90 per cent of its business has been lost during the “ongoing back and forth” between Canada and the United States. Before Trump was elected, the business had a presence inside the U.S. but has needed to scale back and diversify since. … Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Miriam Bozman said “Mission’s economy is very closely tied to cross-border trade through forestry and wood products, manufacturing, logistics, construction, agriculture. Increased costs, supply chain disruptions, and market uncertainty significantly affect business planning and growth across our community,” Bozman said.

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Ontario Investing Over $17 Million to Protect Forestry Jobs in the North

By Natural Resources
Government of Ontario
September 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

CHAPLEAU — The Ontario government is building a strong and self-reliant economy by investing over $17.3 million in four projects that will modernize forest sector manufacturing, enhance the industry’s competitive advantage and strengthen forestry supply chains by using more mill by‑products and underused wood known as forest biomass. …This funding is part of the government’s plan to protect Ontario forestry workers in the face of recent U.S. tariff attacks by building a more resilient, innovative and diversified forest sector, ready to compete in global markets. …The Forest Sector Investment and Innovation Program and Forest Biomass Program investments will support four projects advancing the Roadmap to Protecting Ontario’s Forest Sector:

  • Interfor: $9.6 million to modernize the Elk Lake sawmill with a forest biomass-powered energy system
  • GreenFirst Forest Products: $5.9 million for a new production line and $1.6 million to plan a biofuel facility
  • Atlantic Power: $180,000 to upgrade the Calstock Power Plant’s control system

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Western Forest Products’ Saltair sawmill putting in artificial marsh to filter runoff

By Duck Paterson
Cowichan Valley Citizen
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

A new chapter in the effort to better manage water around Western Forest Products’ Saltair sawmill is taking shape. The company is creating a new runoff filtering system designed to collect and control surface water from the mill and surrounding area before it can make its way beyond the site into Ladysmith Harbour. The rainwater and stormwater runoff interacting with fine woody materials and galvanized mill infrastructure will shortly all be directed into an almost natural setting. “We want to make sure all the rainwater runoff from our site is filtered and it’s going into the ocean clean,” said Tyler Fraser, production superintendent at the mill. “Prior to this project all the surface water went into the storm drains, which would then lead to an oil-water separator before the harbour.” …“We have an established constructed wetland up at Beaver Cove in Telegraph Cove that has worked perfectly,” said Ben Matthews, mill environmental regulatory manager for WFP.

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Council asks federal minister to extend EI benefits to mill workers

By Colin Slark
Prince George Citizen
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Prince George city council voted to send a letter to the federal jobs minister asking her to extend temporary employment insurance program for forestry workers in response to the impending closure of Northwood Pulp Mill at its Monday, Aug. 31 meeting. A report written by intergovernmental relations senior advisor Annie Doran and submitted by Coun. Garth Frizzell in his role as chair of the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs said that in the wake of the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war, the federal government instituted several temporary measures, including: Waiving the waiting period for all new claims; Suspending the allocation of separation earnings like vacation pay, severance pay and more; and Increasing the number of weeks that long-tenured workers can received benefits to a maximum of 20. These benefits were implemented on March 30, 2025 and are expected to end on Oct. 10, 2026.

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Nanaimo’s business community prepares for new American tariffs

By Robert Barron
Nanaimo News Bulletin
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Nanaimo is bracing for the impacts the implementation of the 50% tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian goods that came into effect on Aug. 22 will have on the local business community. Julie Sperber, the new CEO of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce said… it’s clear that many of the region’s forest companies are going to take a big hit. …“Companies like the Harmac Pacific pulp mill won’t be affected as much because much of their products go to Asia, but Coastland Wood Industries are feeling the impacts of US tariffs for the first time.” Secondary-wood products like veneer sheets have been explicitly targeted for the first time. Doug Pauze, president of Coastland, said the company has scaled back production. …Sperber said officials from Western Forest Products and Mosaic Forest Management have planned meetings with government members in Victoria to discuss strategies to deal with the tariffs.

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Local entrepreneur John A. Brink provides forestry industry retrospective

By Ian Gregg
Frequency News
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

A story on the partnership between Saik’uz First Nation and the Municipal District of Vanderhoof left the question open of whether such an arrangement of locally based organizations was similar to the types of entities that operated in the same area, decades earlier. To get an idea of what the regional forest economy looked like, we talked to John A. Brink of the Brink Group of Companies. …His subsidiary, Brink Forest Products Ltd. produces value-added dimensional lumber. This move to diversify was pursued upon noticing a series of changes in the forestry industry that eventually proved to encourage the consolidation of hundreds of companies into a handful. In part 1 of 2 of this interview, we explore what the forestry scene looked like locally, how it operated and at what scale from the 1950s through to the 80s. In part 2 of 2 of this interview, Brink divulges more disruptions the forestry industry came to terms with: pulp mills, pine beetle infestation, and trade disputes. 

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International Pulp Week Announces 2027 Conference

International Pulp Week
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West, International

Mark your calendar for another unforgettable International Pulp Week (IWP) event, packed with industry leaders, insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and outstanding social events. Based on participant feedback, IPW will begin on Monday June 7th with our evening Welcome Cocktail Reception, followed by conference sessions on Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th. Registrations will open in November! See you in Vancouver!

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Vancouver Island MP asks Ottawa to consider buying Crofton mill

By Kendall Hanson
Chek News
August 28, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Member of Parliament for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford is calling on the federal government to explore how it could potentially use the Crofton mill. MP Jeff Kibble is floating the idea of it being used by the Department of National Defense. …On Friday, crews were loading logs onto a ship at its deep sea port. It’s one of the key assets of the property that has the region’s MP calling on Ottawa to consider the property’s purchase. “What I recommended is that the government immediately conduct a feasibility study to see if this is an opportunity to expand the base at Esquimalt. We know that the opportunity to have a deep water industrial site is rare and we also know that the navy is expanding rapidly,” said Kibble. Kibble served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 28 years. …When asked about Kibble’s proposal, Domtar said it’s “exploring a variety of possibilities for the future of the site”.

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Build Your Own Future | Northern Innovation Network

Northern Innovation Network
August 31, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Build Your Own Future (BYOF) is a fully funded business startup program delivered by Northern Innovation Network for eligible individuals whose employment or livelihood has been affected by the forestry downturn, mill closures or curtailments, or tariffs. The program combines foundational business training, one-on-one coaching and mentorship, seven capacity-building workshops, and access to up to $5,000 in reimbursement funding for eligible business expenses. Participants can complete our 5-Day Foundational Business Bootcamp either in person or virtually, and the program is designed to support individuals who want to move from employment into self-employment by starting a contracting or service-based business.

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Less than two weeks until the 23rd Annual Global Buyers Mission in Whistler, BC!

The BC Wood Specialties Group
August 31, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Two weeks until the 23rd Annual Global Buyers Mission in Whistler! At a time when trade barriers, transportation constraints, and rising operating costs are influencing how businesses plan and source, strong supplier–buyer relationships matter more than ever. GBM brings B.C.’s value-added wood manufacturers together with pre-qualified international buyers, distributors, and specifiers. From targeted B2B meetings and conversations on the tradeshow floor to networking receptions including the Women’s Networking Event, WoodTALKS seminars, and a few memorable Whistler moments along the way, GBM is designed to create connections that last well beyond the event. See you in Whistler, September 10-12!

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WTF? Independent Lumber Manufacturers’ Association Poses the Question Facing Canadian Forestry

By Ted Dergousoff
Independent Lumber Manufacturers’ Association
August 31, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada West

Osoyoos, British Columbia — September 21–22, 2026 Every industry has its acronyms. Few, however, land quite like the one the Independent Lumber Manufacturers’ Association (ILMA) has chosen for its 2026 Annual Convention: WTF — Where’s The Fibre? It’s a cheeky title for a serious question. Fibre availability — the raw material that keeps sawmills running, communities employed, and Canada’s forest sector competitive — has become one of the defining challenges facing the industry. ILMA’s answer is to lean into the tension rather than tiptoe around it, gathering the people who can actually do something about the problem for two days of conversation, deal-making, and, yes, a little golf. The ILMA Annual Convention has built a reputation as one of Canada’s premier forestry networking events, and this year’s edition returns to Spirit Ridge Resort in Osoyoos, located on the traditional territory of the Osoyoos Indian Band. The ILMA’s convention is intentionally curated — bringing together company owners and senior executives from across the sector alongside government representatives, First Nations leaders, suppliers, consultants, and forestry professionals.

See the full convention program here. Registration and conference information is available at www.ilma.com/convention

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B.C. has talked buy Canadian. Now it’s clear we need a policy that says so

By Kiersten Enemark, Council of Canadian Innovators
The Vancouver Sun
August 28, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Kiersten Enemark

Since the U.S. began imposing tariffs of up to 50% on tens of billions of dollars of Canadian goods. …Forestry has been hit hardest: BC is Canada’s largest lumber producer, and roughly $6.7 billion in exports to the US in 2024 are now caught up in the new tariffs, on top of decades of softwood lumber duties. …Industry groups also flag a serious risk: even without new tariffs, rising trade tension could push American buyers, especially public-sector ones, toward domestic suppliers, squeezing Canadian companies out of U.S. contracts. Premier David Eby responded with urgency, directing Crown corporations and agencies last year to exclude U.S. suppliers from new contracts wherever possible, and then expanded that to existing contracts, too. It’s the right directive: use the province’s purchasing power to back Canadian business when it needs it most. …B.C. still has no legislation, regulation or formal procurement framework requiring public agencies to prioritize Canadian suppliers. [A Vancouver Sun subscription may be required for full story access]

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Quebec wood products maker appeals US softwood lumber duty ruling

Trade Law Daily
September 4, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East, United States

Mobilier Rustique, a Quebec manufacturer of Eastern white cedar products, is appealing a US Court of International Trade ruling that upheld the Commerce Department’s latest findings in a long-running dispute over countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber. According to Trade Law Daily, the Saint-Martin company filed a notice of appeal Sept. 2. Mobilier Rustique was among several Canadian companies that sought an expedited review after receiving the 14.19% “all-others” countervailing duty rate because they were not individually examined in the original investigation. Commerce’s 2019 expedited review calculated a 1.99% rate for Mobilier Rustique and its cross-owned affiliates. The case subsequently resulted in multiple court rulings and Commerce remand determinations. In July, the Court of International Trade sustained Commerce’s latest remand results. Mobilier Rustique is now appealing that ruling. [to access the full story a Trade Law Daily subscription is required]

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‘Symbol of hope’: Province providing new owners of Espanola mill with $5M to study full restart

By Angela Gemmill
CTV News
September 4, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

©BMI Group

The province announced it was providing $5.1 million to Bioveld North, the owners of the former mill in Espanola, to complete a study on what it would take to reopen. Bioveld North is a subsidiary of BMI Group, which purchased the Espanola pulp and paper mill in 2025. The funds will support engineering and planning work to study a full restart of the shuttered facility. The property has sat idle since Domtar left at the end of 2023. …The company plans to create a full fibre bioproduct hub that “puts every part of the tree to work,” starting with premium pulp and specialty paper. Bioveld said the Espanola site would be based on a facility established at the former mill in Thorold in the Niagara Region. Holland said the provincial funding is meant to help protect Ontario’s forestry sector in the face of U.S. tariffs and would establish an anchor facility for the industry in the northeast.

Additional coverage: PR Newswire, by BMI Group: Bioveld North Welcomes $5.1 Million from Ontario as It Advances Plans to Restart the Espanola Mill

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Counter Tariffs Land September 8 — Eco Guardian’s Cups, Made in Canada, Clear the Tariff Line

By Eco Guardian
PR Newswire
September 2, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

AURORA, ON — Eco Guardian Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of sustainable foodservice packaging, today confirmed that its Aurora, Ontario facility is fully operational and producing paper cups and bowls for national quick-service restaurants and coffee chain operators, foodservice distributors and retailers of every size. As Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-origin goods — including pulp and paper — take effect September 8th, and a separate CBSA dumping investigation targets China-origin paperboard cups, Eco Guardian’s Aurora, Ontario facility is manufacturing cups, bowls and custom-printed packaging from raw material sourced entirely outside the United States — placing its output outside the scope of both the September 8 counter tariffs and the CBSA investigation. …The facility is built with capacity to produce more than 1 billion cups a year — scale that means a national program isn’t choosing between “Canadian-made” and “large enough to matter.” 

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Ontario Investing More Than $5 Million to potentially restart the Espanola pulp mill

By Natural Resources
Government of Ontario
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

Espanola, Ontario — The Ontario government is investing $5.1 million in Bioveld North to advance the engineering work needed to potentially restart the Espanola pulp mill. A successful restart would create a new regional anchor facility in northeastern Ontario, with the potential to create 400 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs. This Forest Biomass Program funding is part of the government’s plan to protect Ontario forestry workers in the face of recent U.S. tariff attacks by building a more resilient, innovative and diversified forest sector, ready to compete in global markets. …Ontario’s investment in evaluation and engineering work will help Bioveld develop a plan to restart the idled Espanola Pulp and Paper Mill and recommend efficiency and reliability upgrades to sharpen the facility’s competitive advantage.  It will also advance forest sector innovation and build the facility’s resilience in changing markets by identifying opportunities to diversify mill operations into renewable fuels and other bioproducts.

 

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Port Hawkesbury Paper Releases Its 2025 Sustainability Report

Port Hawkesbury Paper
August 27, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia – Port Hawkesbury Paper (PHP) announces the release of its 2025 Sustainability Report, which details a year of meaningful progress across safety, clean energy, environmental accountability, and community investment. The report highlights PHP’s activities and accomplishments through 2025, underscoring the company’s continued dedication to safety, sustainability, and long-term value for its customers, partners, employees, and the broader Nova Scotia community. …”At Port Hawkesbury Paper, we made significant progress in 2025 across the organization, most notably the development of our wind project,” stated Bevan Lock and Mike Hartery, Mill Co-Managers of Port Hawkesbury Paper. “What these achievements share is a common thread: a company that takes its responsibilities seriously and remains focused on building a sustainable future for its people, its partners, and Nova Scotia.”

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Forestry workers in the spotlight on Day 2 of Canadian Council

Unifor Canada
August 29, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Stéphane Lefebvre

Delegates to Unifor’s Canadian Council in Ottawa turned their attention Saturday to advancing national bargaining priorities and defending workers in industries facing profound economic change. Council addressed the mounting crisis facing workers in Canada’s forestry industry, which employs close to 200,000 people, where mill closures, curtailments and workforce reductions have devastated communities already confronting U.S. tariffs, volatile export markets and insufficient investment. “Employers and governments have repeatedly underinvested in the forestry industry,” said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier. …Stéphane Lefebvre, President of the Unifor’s Forestry Council, who himself is facing a workplace closure, presented a National President’s Recommendation: Fighting for the Future of Canada’s Forestry Sector, which calls for a comprehensive strategy to transform and strengthen the sector. Council adopted the recommendation that day at council. “We are going to have a National Day of Action in forestry communities all over the country,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne vowed.

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Northern Pulp’s demolition to close a hard chapter in Pictou’s history

By Aaron Beswick
The Chronicle Herald
September 1, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

The half-century-old mill at the heart of debate and division in Pictou County is coming down. Environment Minister Timothy Halman issued an amended order allowing the mill’s current owner, Northern Timber Nova Scotia Corp., to tear it down and clean up the site at Abercrombie Point. …“As part of the company’s requirement, the updated ministerial order also requires the company to determine if any upgrades are needed to its surface water management process.” The company has said it intends to start work associated with the demolition “as early as September.” …Halman’s directive gives the company 18 months to complete the work, with all solid waste, including construction and demolition debris, going to a facility approved of by his department. …Northern Timber’s 172,000 hectares of forest land and its tree nursery were sold to Tidnish Holdings as part of Northern Pulp’s creditor protection proceedings. …$15M was set aside for winding up the plant.

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Témiscaming mayor highlights ‘tremendous potential’ of industrial site

By Richard Coffin
My North Bay Now
August 31, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada East

Alain Gauthier

The mayor of Témiscaming, Alain Gauthier, says since the announcement by RYAM about its temporary shutdown coming mid-September, he’s been highlighting the tremendous potential of the industrial site. …The plant produces cellulose, pulp, and coated paperboard with an economic shutdown of most operations slated for Sept. 15, because of U.S. tariffs. Gauthier says the potential extends across the Témiscamingue region, adding it has exceptional strengths when it comes to the forestry industry. He says within a radius of about 80 km, the region has the potential to bring together three pulp mills, a softwood sawmill and a hardwood glued-laminated timber beam plant, creating significant opportunities. “We also have a regional reality that allows us to move forward: no woodland caribou-related issues preventing development, no blockades, and a long-standing collaboration with First Nations to ensure the effective and sustainable management of our forest resources,” he says, in a release. 

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Canada — Idaho’s top trade partner — matched Trump’s tariffs. What’s that mean here?

By Shannon Tyler
The Idaho Statesman
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, US West

BOISE, Idaho — Tensions between the US and its second-largest trade partner — and Idaho’s top partner — boiled over last month when President Trump lashed out at Canada with a slew of new tariffs. …Canadian officials said last week that they were “targeting” products that would affect certain states as they responded with tariffs of their own. …Idaho exports more goods to its northern neighbor than it does to its next six largest markets — Taiwan, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, China and Malaysia. Agricultural and food products are the state’s top exported goods, and Canada is the biggest market for them. …Wood, paper, pulp and printing products are also on the list of items facing 50% tariffs from both sides. …Idaho imports wood and paper products from Canada more than twice the amount it exports. …Trump’s new round of tariffs is another way to target Canadian wood, which this time affects different types of plywood.

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Maine governor says her state is ‘not the enemy’ in ongoing trade war

By Sam Farley
CBC News
September 3, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, US East

Janet Mills

Maine’s governor says the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada is “irrational,” and that she wants it to end. Janet Mills said she’s heard the same from residents of her state. “They want the war to stop,” the Democratic governor said. …Mills said Maine and New Brunswick share close family and cultural ties, and she has respect for Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Susan Holt, along with other premiers she’s met. …“This war that the president has waged, is waging on Canada, is not our war. It’s not Maine’s war with New Brunswick or Quebec or any part of Canada,” Mills said. She said she doesn’t want Maine’s relationship with Canada to be damaged by tariffs, and she wants Canadians to know that they are “always welcome here, your products are always welcome here and that we will always be friends in my book.”

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Finance & Economics

Canada July trade surplus shrinks, US exports drop

By Promit Mukherjee
Reuters
September 3, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

OTTAWA — Canada’s trade surplus narrowed sharply in July as exports of energy and metal products shrank ‌while imports rose, just weeks before Washington’s new 50% tariffs begin to show up in statistics. The trade surplus was C$769 million (US$557 million), compared with a four-year high surplus of C$4.2 billion posted a month ago, Statistics Canada said. Exports dropped 2.3%, while imports increased 2.2%. Amid an escalating trade dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Canada has been seeking ​to reduce its dependence on its neighbour and largest trading partner. The U.S. accounted for 66.35% of Canada’s total ⁠exports in July, down from 69.39% in June and 72.64% a year ago. However, Canada’s import dependence on the U.S. has only narrowed to ​59% in the last 12 months compared with 62% in 2024. However, Washington’s latest duties, imposed last month, will provide a tougher test for exporters in the coming months.

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U.S. CUSMA exit would be ‘severe but not cataclysmic’ for Canada: Deloitte report

By Lauren Krugel
The Canadian Press in Business in Vancouver
September 3, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Boosting trade with a more diverse array of international partners would only plug part of the hole in Canada’s economy if the U.S. were to withdraw from the North American trade pact, says a new Deloitte Canada report. So Canada must look at measures beyond trade diversification to help make up the difference, such as removing interprovincial trade barriers and fostering new industries, wrote the authors of “Tariffs: A Rough Road Leads to New Destinations,” released Thursday. It lays out a best- and worst-case scenario for the domestic economy amid the cross-border trade maelstrom. …The worst scenario would be the dissolution of CUSMA, which the report’s authors call “a possibility that cannot be dismissed.” The U.S. accounted for about 70 per cent of Canada’s exports in 2025. If that were to happen, Canada’s real gross domestic product would fall by 1.6 per cent, or $402 billion, over the next decade. 

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Inflation risks rise with higher fuel costs and new U.S. tariffs, Bank of Canada governor warns

By Jeff Lagerquist
CBC News
September 2, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem says inflation risk is on the rise, with higher energy costs topping Canada’s incoming dollar-for-dollar tariffs on U.S. goods as the biggest potential driver of rising prices for consumers and businesses. Macklem’s remarks on Wednesday came after Canada’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25 per cent, as widely expected by economists. The central bank lowered its policy rate to its current level in October of last year. This latest announcement marks seven consecutive times it has left its trend-setting policy rate unchanged. “The counter-tariffs, and indeed the U.S. tariffs … will add costs for some businesses,” Macklem told reporters in Ottawa. “These tariffs are very steep, but they are applied to a relatively narrow base.”The bigger issue, he said, is the war in the Middle East.

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Canada gains share in U.S. softwood lumber imports in Q2 2026

The Lesprom Network
September 3, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States, International

The ten largest softwood lumber import markets imported 16.6 million m3 in April-June 2026. Canada increased its share of U.S. softwood lumber imports by 6 pp, while Germany lost 3 pp of U.S. softwood lumber imports, according to Lesprom Analytics. The ten largest suppliers shipped 15.0 million m3 and held 90% of imports across the ten largest import markets. Canada gained 2 pp of Chinese softwood lumber imports. In the United Kingdom, Germany gained 4 pp and Finland lost 3 pp of U.K. softwood lumber imports. Russia shipped 474 thousand m3 less across the ten largest import markets, followed by Germany at 428 thousand m3 less and Austria at 370 thousand m3 less. In the first half of 2026, the ten largest import markets imported 34.7 million m3. Canada shipped 1.8 million m3 less and Russia shipped 1.2 million m3 less than in the first half of 2025.

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Canada’s housing market seems to be finally taking steps toward recovery in 2026

By Robert Hogue, Assistant Chief Economist
RBC Economics
September 1, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

Canadian home resales have been on a winning streak since April, inventory has levelled off, and prices appear to be stabilizing or at least falling more slowly. We see room for further gradual progress ahead as improved affordability and brightening job prospects shore up confidence, increasingly unlocking pent-up demand and slowly draining piled up inventory. But, the path is unlikely to be smooth or uniform across the country. The prolonged market correction in Ontario and BC will take time to heal. And, more resilient regions have little upside left amid stable or rising interest rates and stagnant population growth. …We project home resales and the benchmark price index to fall -3.6% to 453,200 units and -2.3% to $794,200, respectively, this year mainly reflecting weakness this winter and early spring. Recovery will become more visible by 2027 when we forecast transactions to grow 6.7% to 483,600 units, and the benchmark value edges higher by 0.8% to $800,700.

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Homebuilding crisis: Some producers face existential threat from US tariffs

By Fergal McAlinden
Mortgage Professional America
August 31, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

Russ Taylor

Canada’s homebuilding outlook was already grim – and the fresh round of US tariffs introduced last week is only complicating that picture further, according to a Vancouver-based wood markets expert, Russ Taylor. Small and medium-sized wood product manufacturers, which produce a significant supply of Canadian homebuilding materials, are facing existential threats from the wave of levies announced by Donald Trump, Taylor said. …The current crisis arrives after years of pain for the forest industry in British Columbia, which could buckle even further from the US making it more difficult to supply buyers across the border. …Homebuilder sentiment, meanwhile, remains low. The Canadian Home Builders’ Association described “bleak conditions” from its first-quarter survey of builders this year, with its multi-family index hitting a record low for the third consecutive time. …Taylor sees the latest escalation in the US-Canada trade war spelling further bad news for the housing and homebuilding outlook on both sides of the border.

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Bank of Canada set to hold as trade war creates new dilemma for Macklem

By Erik Hertzberg
Canadian Mortgage Trends
September 1, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada

The Bank of Canada is likely to hold borrowing costs steady, as an escalation in the trade war with the U.S. threatens the economic recovery while adding to inflation risks. Economists and markets expect policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem to keep the policy rate at 2.25% on Wednesday. It would be the seventh straight hold — but the mood surrounding the country’s relationship with its top trading partner has changed dramatically since the last one, in July. …“Heightened growth risks from new U.S. tariffs and inflation risks from high oil prices likely created more discomfort for the Bank of Canada since their last meeting in July, but not enough to push them off the sidelines,” Nathan Janzen and Claire Fan, economists at Royal Bank of Canada, wrote. Tariffs will add to inflation while weighing on growth, reviving a dilemma Macklem and his governing council have highlighted throughout the trade war.

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What tariffs will really cost Canadians and Americans

By Michael Race
BBC News
August 28, 2026
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

As the dust settles in this tit-for-tat tariff row, what will be affected most on both sides of the border? …Construction materials such as steel, aluminium as well as lumber wood have had tariffs in place before the latest escalation, though Canada has now matched US rates on the metals at 50%. Carney has also imposed import taxes on several US wood products, such as plywood, and even screws used to fix timber together. That means building firms that import such materials will face higher costs and may choose to pass those on through higher prices – pushing up the cost of homes, for example. The Forest Products Association of Canada says tariffs would “raise costs on both sides of the border”, while on the US side, Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) urged Trump to make building materials exempt from his tariff agenda due to an “ongoing housing affordability crisis”.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Help shape the future of sustainable wood construction

By The Canadian Wood Council
LinkedIn
September 2, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

The Canadian Wood Council is looking for a Technical Specialist, Codes and Standards – Sustainability to join our Codes & Engineering team in Ottawa. This newly created role will help advance CWC’s work on embodied carbon, life cycle assessment, environmental performance, codes and standards, and sustainable wood construction. The successful candidate will contribute to industry positions, standards development, technical guidance, and initiatives such as the Embodied Carbon Framework for Canadian Wood Construction. We’re looking for a mid-level professional with a strong technical background and experience in areas such as sustainability, LCA, EPDs, standards development, green building, forestry, or the forest products and construction sectors.

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Timber-frame kit homes rise Shoal Lake 39A First Nation reserve

By Don Procter
Journal of Commerce
September 2, 2026
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada West

Manitoba — A long-time stick‑frame builder serving remote Indigenous and rural communities as far north as the Arctic, Wayne Allary recently shifted gears, partnering with Cornerstone Timberframes to deliver timber‑frame kit homes built with glulam members. The idea, he says, is to build better quality, energy efficient homes that can be erected in 45 days, cutting months off the time to construct a conventional house. After completing five of Cornerstone’s A-frame kit residences in the First Nation community of Shoal Lake 39A, east of Winnipeg, Allary’s general contracting firm Waasa Indigenous Services Inc. erected five of Cornerstone’s prefabricated kit bungalows of various designs with full basements. Not only were they quick to erect, the homes, which were prefabricated in Cornerstone’s manufacturing facility near Winnipeg, required fewer trades. The company’s timber kit houses with glulam beams feature flexible layouts, with moveable non‑load‑bearing walls, says Cornerstone Timberframes.

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Forestry

Government of Canada and Federation of Canadian Municipalities invest $67.8 million in urban forestry projects

By Federation of Canadian Municipalities
PR Newswire
September 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

TOWN OF INGERSOLL, ON — Trees are an effective tool for helping communities fight climate change while improving air quality, conserving energy and enhancing local ecosystems. …The Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) announced an investment of $67,801,063 to support new urban forestry projects across Canada. Through a $64,166,393 investment, approximately 473,000 new trees will be planted as part of 165 tree-planting projects. In addition, $3,634,670 will fund 31 plans and studies focused on the sustainable expansion and resilience of community forests and trees, including urban forest management plans. Projects are located across British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. New tree planting will help reduce flood risks by absorbing and slowing rainfall, protect buildings by acting as windbreaks, and create employment opportunities. Urban forestry plans and studies funding will increase the capacity of local governments to strategically manage canopies while enhancing community and forest resilience, ecological health and social equity.

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Farewell black spruce? How climate change and pests are reshaping North America’s forests

By Alex Walls
University of British Columbia
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

If global emissions continue unchecked, rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns could amplify tree pests and diseases across more than 80 per cent of North American forests within decades, jeopardizing critical carbon sinks, air quality and the forestry economy. This is the key finding of a new UBC-led study published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The researchers found that insects pose the more immediate threat, with more than 60 per cent of the areas examined projected to experience 30 per cent more insect pressure by mid-century. Species like the spongy moth, already wreaking havoc in Canadian forests, could expand significantly in eastern North America by mid-century. “The forests that exist today aren’t going to be ones existing in 2040,” said senior author Dr. Jonathan Davies. “The process is happening already. I think we’ve got to put everything on the table because the status quo is no longer tenable.”

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Canada Launches First Private Forest Owner Survey in Over 20 Years, Farmers Invited to Participate

Farms.com
September 1, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

National survey seeks input from farmers and private woodlot owners to improve forestry policy, rural economic development, and environmental stewardship across Canada. Private forests are a familiar part of many Canadian farms, providing firewood, timber, wildlife habitat, clean water, and environmental benefits that extend far beyond property lines. Yet despite their importance, very little current information exists about the people who own and manage them. Now, Canadian Forest Owners (CFO), in partnership with researchers at McGill University, has launched the first national survey of private forest owners in more than two decades, seeking input from farmers and woodlot owners across the country. The initiative is designed to create an updated picture of Canada’s private forest sector and help governments make more informed decisions on forestry, climate, biodiversity, and rural economic development. …Many Canadian farms include woodlots that generate income, supply wood products, protect watercourses, enhance biodiversity, and contribute to carbon storage.

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Help update the portrait of Canada’s private forest owners

Canadian Forest Owners
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Canada’s private forests cover roughly 23 million hectares, yet the last national study of the people who own and steward them was published more than 20 years ago. A lot has changed. Researchers at McGill University, in partnership with Canadian Forest Owners (CFO) and with support from MITACS Canada, have launched the first national survey of private forest owners in more than 20 years. The survey aims to build a stronger evidence base to help governments better understand the role private forests play in Canada’s economy, environment, and communities. The survey only takes 15 minutes and can be completed on a phone or tablet, but a computer is recommended. The survey will close on September 14, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. MT / 5:00 p.m. ET. Take the survey now: https://www.forestowners.ca/about/survey/

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Hidden In Plain Sight: Why Canada’s Private Working Forests Matter Now

By Andrew de Vries, Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Forest Owners
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Canada is having an important conversation about the future of its forest sector. Fibre supply is tightening. Mills and communities face growing uncertainty. Wildfires, insects, conservation pressures, changing forest conditions and intensifying trade tensions are reshaping the economics of forestry. At the same time, governments are looking for ways to attract investment, improve productivity and strengthen rural economies. In that conversation, one of Canada’s significant forest resources has too often remained in the background: privately owned working forests. That is beginning to change. When Mark Carney announced the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force in November 2025, Canadian Forest Owners (CFO) saw an opportunity to challenge the traditional boundaries of Canada’s forest policy. When we presented to the Task Force in February and submitted recommendations in March, our message was straightforward: Canada cannot build a stronger, more competitive and resilient forest sector while leaving private forests and forest owners at the margins.

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Court says hundreds of Walbran Valley trees ‘spiked’ as blockade injunction extended

By Darryl Greer
The Canadian Press in CTV News
September 3, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Hundreds of trees have been found embedded with metal spikes in Vancouver Island’s upper Walbran Valley, according to a court ruling that extends an injunction against a logging blockade there until early 2028. The BC Supreme Court court ruling says the blockade activity has included vandalism of logging equipment and tree-spiking incidents, in which two fallers had their chainsaws damaged beyond repair when they struck spikes on Aug. 18. Last Friday’s ruling says the loggers weren’t injured, but tree spikes carry “significant risk of injury or death”. Investigations found several hundred trees in Tsawak‑Qin Forestry’s cutblocks had been embedded with spikes, many with their heads cut off and bark placed over the top. …Tsawak‑Qin Forestry’s activities in the upper Walbran Valley have been disrupted by protesters opposed to old-growth logging since August 2025. Justice H. William Veenstra’s ruling says “the new evidence establishes that there continues to be irreparable harm suffered by Tsawak-Qin”.

Related coverage in: Chek News, by Liz Brown: Injunction to prevent logging protests at Walbran Valley extended to January 2028

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Old Growth on the Chopping Block for the North Coast Transmission Line

By Sarah Cox
The Tyee
September 4, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

BC Hydro is seeking to remove part of a provincial protected area near Terrace, B.C., to make way for a transmission line that will power the liquefied natural gas and mining industries. In a recently released environmental impact assessment, BC Hydro says its favoured route for the North Coast Transmission Line cuts through part of the Swan Creek Protected Area, an unlogged watershed bordering the Zymoetz River. The Zymoetz, known locally as the Copper River, is a tributary of the Skeena River and has a recreational steelhead fishery and chinook spawning areas. While the portion that BC Hydro aims to remove is relatively small — 12.4 hectares, or about five per cent of the protected area — it includes old-growth forest, winter habitat for moose, wetlands, fish-bearing tributaries of the Zymoetz River and habitat suitable for multiple species at risk of extinction.

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Campfire ban to be lifted across Vancouver Island and South Coast

Victoria News
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Campfire prohibitions will be lifted across the Coastal Fire Centre starting Thursday (Sept. 3), as wildfire danger continues to decline following recent rainfall and cooler temperatures. Effective at noon, Category 1 open-fire prohibitions, which include campfires, will be rescinded throughout the Coastal Fire Centre – which encompasses the Island and B.C.’s South Coast. Fire no larger than 0.5 metres high by 0.5 metres wide, used for recreational or ceremonial purposes, will be allowed. At the same time, Category 2 and Category 3 open-fire prohibitions will also be lifted in the Haida Gwaii Forest District. Category 2 fires include backyard burning, while Category 3 fires include larger industrial burning activities. However, Category 2 and Category 3 fires will remain prohibited throughout the rest of the Coastal Fire Centre. Some activities and equipment also remain prohibited, including binary exploding targets, fireworks, burn barrels or burn cages, controlled air incinerators, air curtain burners, and carbonizers.

Related news: My Cariboo Now, by Teryn Midzain: Category 1 campfire bans in the Cariboo to be rescinded this week

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Tree planting project creating positive opportunities in Wekweètì, says chief

By Liny Lamberink
CBC News
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Patrick Tom has been helping a crew plant trees in his community of Wekweètì, N.W.T., since late August. His job is to ferry personnel and supplies to an area on the south shore of Snare Lake, which is being replanted after a wildfire. A crew of roughly 45 people flew into the Tłįchǫ community — approximately 300 kilometres northeast of Behchokǫ̀ — to plant 425,000 black and white spruce trees over the span of two weeks. It’s part of the Tlicho government’s plan to plant 13 million trees across its lands by 2030, with the help of federal funding. The initiative aims to restore ecosystems and boreal caribou habitat, while also creating local jobs. Tom worked for the Ekati diamond mine for the last 27 years. When it went into receivership in July, Tom said he was able to retire and he now has a pension.

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As British Columbia mulls continued wolf-killing to save caribou, critics say habitat loss is the real threat

By Spoorthy Raman
Mongabay
September 1, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia is in talks to extend its decade-long wolf cull program by another five years. Since 2015, the province has killed wolves in areas with declining populations of endangered woodland caribou as part of its Caribou Recovery Program. …B.C.’s wolf cull program was instituted to reverse historic caribou declines. Provincial data today show the ungulate’s numbers are rising in areas where wolves are killed. But the proposed extension, without steps to address habitat loss, has sparked outrage and concern among conservationists and scientists. …However, experts argue that wolves are a relatively minor threat compared to widespread loss of the caribou’s preferred old-growth forest habitat, which is falling to logging and mining projects and being leveled for oil and gas pipelines. …But that “emergency measure” has continued for more than a decade, killing 200-300 wolves each year.

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BC Has an Extinction Problem. Scientists Say There’s a Fix

By Sarah Cox
The Tyee
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Canada’s last wild spotted owl was known as Skalula. …No official announcement was made when Skalula disappeared in 2023, the year after her mate died. …To this day, neither the provincial nor the federal government has publicly acknowledged the disheartening truth: the northern spotted owl, which nests only in old-growth forests, has gone extinct in Canada’s wild. …How did we so miserably fail the spotted owl? …B.C. is Canada’s most biodiverse province, meaning that it has the greatest variety of life. But the number of species at risk of extinction in the province — a key measure of biodiversity loss — is steadily climbing. …Chris Johnson, the chair-elect of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, says that the only way to help many struggling wildlife species is for the B.C. government to enact endangered species legislation. …Today, almost 500 species in B.C. are endangered, meaning they could soon be lost if nothing is done.

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Ban on category one fires in Southeast Fire Centre rescinded

By Timothy Schafer
Castanet
September 1, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

The end of wildfire season is beginning to fizzle as the B.C. Wildfire Service is nudging open the gates a little bit and allowing category one fires today. The combination of current and future forecasts, recent precipitation and improved overnight recoveries has reduced the need to prohibit campfires in the Southeast Fire Centre region. “The B.C. Wildfire Service takes several factors into account before rescinding prohibitions,” noted the BCWS in a statement. “This includes balancing the needs of the public with the need to mitigate the risk of human-caused wildfires.” As of noon, category one campfires will be permitted throughout the Southeast Fire Centre — which includes the Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District and the Selkirk Natural Resource District — and all non-municipal land across the Regional District of Central Kootenay. However, there are rules involved. A category one campfire must be set in accordance with section 20 of the Wildfire Regulation…

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Forestry contractors urge B.C. to expand thinning, controlled burns to reduce wildfire risk

By Rob Gibson
Castanet
September 2, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

John Betts

John Betts, executive director of the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association (WFCA) says B.C. must “take the heat out of the woods” as wildfire risk grows. Nearly a century of fire suppression has left much of B.C.’s forests, including in the Okanagan, primed to burn hotter and more destructively than they ever would have naturally, says Betts, warning the province still isn’t responding at the scale the problem demands. John Betts, executive director of the WFCA represents independent B.C. forestry contractors and consultants. Betts says communities that have lived through devastating wildfires are increasingly rallying behind proactive landscape planning. “You’ve got the makings of good cooperation between the wildfire service and some communities,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s coming through, in some cases because of trauma.” …He says the solution isn’t simply to reintroduce fire everywhere at once, but to combine controlled burning with thinning and removal of dead and smaller trees.

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Okanagan Forest Task Force asking province for help keeping backcountry safe

By Brendan Shykora
The Vernon Morning Star
August 29, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

Amid preparations to clean up an abandoned camp in the Lumby area, the Okanagan Forest Task Force (OFTF) is urging the province to aid its mission to make the backcountry safer. Ryan Hirschmiller, with OFTF, said the concerns about these illegal camp sites include polluted waterways and a greater risk of wildfire. …The illegality of many of these campsites comes down to their duration. In B.C., campsites in parks or on Crown land can only be set up for a maximum of 14 days. …Blake sent an open letter to B.C. Premier David Eby two weeks ago, in which the OFTF stated …that these encampments on Crown land pose a risk to public safety. Blake has since sent letters to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar and to Conservative Party and Official Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre. …The letter asks: “Why are we waiting for something catastrophic to happen before taking action?”

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Injunction aimed at Walbran Valley logging protests extended to 2028

By Roxanne Egan-Elliott
Victoria Times Colonist
August 30, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

A judge has extended a temporary injunction aimed at preventing old-growth logging protesters from blocking roads in the Walbran Valley. Tsawak-qin Forestry Limited Partnership was granted a one-year injunction last year that was set to expire on Sept. 13. The company was requesting an extension to the injunction, which prevents anyone with knowledge of the order from impeding access to roads or construction sites in the area. …Justice William Veenstra extended the injunction until Jan. 31, 2028, but declined to grant what would have essentially been an indefinite extension. Bill Jones, a Pacheedaht First Nation elder who opposed the extension request, was disappointed in the decision to grant an extension but appreciated that it was not made indefinite, his lawyer, Ben Isitt, said….The Pacheedaht First Nation issued a statement last year asking protesters to leave its territory in the Walbran Valley area, saying the blockade undermines the nation’s authority to govern its territory.

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Forestry critic Stamer pushes faster permits, more salvage logging after wildfires

By Michael Potestio
Castanet
August 30, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Forestry critic and B.C. Conservative MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson Ward Stamer wants to see the province salvage more wildfire-burned wood faster. He said that only about 5% of burned wood is logged on average in B.C. following a wildfire — a number he’s prefer to see rise to 25%. The former logger said he also wants to see cutting license issued faster, noting most burned trees are useless if not harvested within two years. …Stamer said once a trees dies, it begins deteriorating and each species does so at different rates. He said most burned trees that aren’t harvested within two years may only be good for low value chips, as opposed to other products such as plywood, veneer and saw logs. …Forestry Minister Ravi Parmar said the salvage rate is closer to eight to 10%. Parmar said the province is always trying to increase its salvage rate.

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Province, First Nations move ahead on Thompson River forest landscape plan

By Tim Petruk
Castanet
August 30, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West

©BC Govt

Work is moving ahead on a long-term forest management plan covering the Thompson River watershed following the completion of public engagement earlier this summer. The Thompson River Watersheds Forest Landscape Plan has entered the plan-development stage, with input gathered through open houses and an online survey now being considered as the province and area First Nations work on the draft. The plan is intended to guide future forest management across a large portion of the southern Interior, including decisions related to wildfire risk, watershed health, biodiversity, old growth, climate change and timber supply. Representatives from First Nations within the Secwépemc, Nlaka’pamux, Syilx and St’át’imc Nations are involved in the planning process alongside the province. …According to the project website, the next phase will focus on developing the plan using technical information, Indigenous knowledge and feedback received through the consultation process.

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Taking the next step to modernize B.C. forest management

By Ravi Parmar and Randene Neill
The Government of British Columbia
August 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Parmar

Randene Neill

BC is taking steps to explore a Working Forest Landscape Model. …The model consists of three management zones that will support a more co-ordinated approach to land use, stewardship and economic priorities that integrates with ongoing planning processes. The are: A Working-Forest Zone that would prioritize the production of timber for commercial harvesting; a Multiple-Use Zone focused on restoration and enhancement… that can support multiple uses; and a Conservation and Protection Zone that ensures long-term ecosystem function and biodiversity. …Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests said “If we establish a clear vision for our working forests through long-term planning, we can reduce unnecessary red tape, improve land stewardship, create greater predictability for workers and communities, and build a forest sector that is more competitive and value-added.” …[and] “we can better monitor and protect biodiversity and ecosystem health across the entire landscape,” said Randene Neill, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. 

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New Brunswick Government unveils new wildfire management plan

By Department of Natural Resources
The Government of New Brunswick
August 31, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick– The provincial government has released a multi-year wildfire management plan, building upon lessons learned during the challenging 2025 wildfire season. …The 2025 wildfire season was one of the most devastating in the province’s history… An after-action report, which formed the basis of the new plan, highlighted strong operational response but identified challenges in staffing, co-ordination, resources and communication. To address these issues, the government has converted 74 seasonal forest ranger positions into year-round roles, purchased new firefighting equipment and funded community wildfire resiliency plans. Future actions will focus on public education, support for responders and strengthened collaboration to build resilience against increasing wildfire threats. The recently upgraded wildfire dashboard and website were also developed based on feedback from internal staff, government partners and external stakeholders collected through surveys and engagement sessions.

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A new generation of elm trees could be equipped to beat the disease that killed the parents

By Amanda Swinhart and Patrick Whittle
Associated Press
August 31, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

©TNRD

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The very disease that has decimated millions of American elms in the U.S. is now being used to bring the iconic trees back. In Vermont, Leila Wilson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, is one of the scientists leading an effort to beat Dutch elm disease, which has killed tens of millions of elm trees over the last century. Scientists with the Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy Vermont spent the summer injecting 6,000 young elm trees with Dutch elm disease spores to test their resistance to the disease. The survivors will be sent to a breeding program with a goal of growing the genetic diversity of disease-tolerant elm trees. They will one day be used for restoration in forests, riverbanks and backyards. …The young elms were bred from a group of a few dozen trees in the Northeast that have survived Dutch elm disease…

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Cat Lake First Nation opens a Dryden natural resources office to expand forestry and energy development

The Net News Ledger
August 27, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada East

DRYDEN, Ont. — Cat Lake First Nation has expanded its economic development presence in Northwestern Ontario with the opening of a new Far North Natural Resources office in Dryden, a move the Nation says will strengthen its ability to manage resource development, forestry, energy projects and economic partnerships connected to its traditional territory. Cat Lake First Nation, Bizhiw-zaaga’iganiing Nitam Anishinaabeg, marked the opening of the office at 14378 Highway 17 East with an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 26. The expansion is part of a broader strategy centred on economic self-determination, Indigenous ownership and building the professional capacity needed to participate directly in forestry, bio-economy, energy and natural-resource development.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Canadians should prepare for a 5 C hotter future, report warns

By David Thurton
CBC News
September 3, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Canadians will have to prepare for a future that’s 5 C hotter, according to a new report summarizing the latest science on climate change. The second edition of Canada’s Changing Climate Report, a synthesis of the science on the impact of a warming planet on Canadians, confirms with greater confidence that burning fossil fuels are responsible for climate change. The report assess what Canada would look like under different scenarios depending on whether countries fulfil their climate commitments. …The report finds that if global governments keep pursuing their current climate policies, Canada… is projected to warm through this century with an estimated temperature increase of 5 C. In Nunavut, warming in winter could exceed 10 C. If the world, however, dramatically reduces GHGs and achieves net-zero around 2075, Canada’s climate is projected to stabilize and average warming would increase by 3.5 C. …Canada’s environment minister said Canada remains committed to reducing its emissions and achieving net-zero by 2050.

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Donald Trump’s trade war is accelerating Canada’s retreat from climate policy

By Linda Solomon Wood
National Observer
September 3, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, United States

Donald Trump’s trade war is accelerating Canada’s retreat from climate policy. When trade talks between Canada and the United States broke down on August 22 and Trump imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on almost $30 billion of Canadian goods, Canada had to respond. And it is responding. Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing up to Trump. I admire him for that. Canada cannot allow an American president to threaten our economy every time he doesn’t get what he wants. We need new markets, new trading partners and far less dependence on the United States. But something else is happening in the rush to protect ourselves. Climate policy is getting trounced. The oil-and-gas emissions cap has been abandoned. The Clean Electricity Regulations and other climate measures have been weakened. The federal government has moved toward expedited approvals for energy infrastructure.

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Feds say their climate law is unenforceable

The Edmonton Sun
September 1, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

Mark Carney government is arguing in court that the signature piece of Justin Trudeau’s climate action plan — the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act — is unenforceable. Also, that it’s not the job of the courts to rule on federal climate policy. That may come as a shock to Canadians who remember the Trudeau government crowing when the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Trudeau’s carbon pricing law was constitutional, after it was challenged by Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan as an intrusion into provincial authority. But that was then, and this is now. CBC reports that a group of environmental activists are asking the federal court to compel the government to update its 2030 emission targets, which are no longer realistic, or declare the current plan is a violation of the act. The government argues its net zero law only says the government may decide to amend its emission targets, but does not require it.

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A Year of Growth for University of British Columbia Forestry & Environmental Stewardship’s Combined Heat and Power Academy

By Forestry & Environmental Stewardship
University of British Columbia
August 28, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada West

Over the past year, the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Academy at the Alex Fraser Research Forest (AFRF) has welcomed participants from Indigenous, remote, and forest-dependent communities across Canada to explore a question that many communities are asking: how can local forest resources help build a more resilient energy future?  “Communities across Canada are looking for practical solutions that can strengthen local energy resilience while creating economic opportunities,” said Mustafa Onder Ersin, Project Manager of the CHP Academy Community Bioenergy Systems Training Program. “The CHP Academy was created to help communities explore those opportunities through hands-on learning, practical demonstrations, and knowledge sharing.” Hosted at the AFRF, managed by UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship, the Academy provides a unique setting where participants can learn about renewable energy systems within an operational forestry environment.  

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Can biomass breathe new life into Nova Scotia’s struggling forestry sector?

By Glenn MacDonald
The Chronicle Herald
September 4, 2026
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada East

For generations, Nova Scotia’s forests have been a foundation of the province’s economy. But the traditional business model built around sawmills, pulpwood and large-scale paper production has been under growing pressure. The closure of the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County in 2020 exposed just how vulnerable the sector had become. …Now, industry leaders are looking toward an emerging opportunity: turning branches, bark and other low-grade fibre into energy. …Nova Sustainable Fuels is planning a multibillion-dollar renewable-energy project that would use biomass from Nova Scotia’s forestry and forest-based industries to produce sustainable aviation fuel, providing an alternative to conventional petroleum-based aviation fuel. For an industry struggling to find markets for its fibre, projects such as that could represent an important new customer. Stuart said a biomass market could also complement efforts to improve the health of Nova Scotia’s forests. [A Chronicle Herald subscription may be required for full access]

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Health & Safety

2026 New or Revised ACGIH Threshold Limit Values and B.C. Exposure Limits (June)

WorkSafeBC
September 4, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada West

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation provides that, except as otherwise determined by WorkSafeBC, an employer must ensure no worker is exposed to a substance exceeding the Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) prescribed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Twice a year, the ACGIH publishes a list of substances for which they have set new or revised TLVs. When WorkSafeBC adopts the new or revised ACGIH TLVs as regulatory exposure limits for chemical substances, these exposure limits are referred to as B.C. Exposure Limits (ELs). An EL is the maximum allowed airborne concentration for a chemical substance for which it is believed that nearly all workers may be exposed over a working lifetime and experience no adverse health effects. ELs may be set out as an 8-hour time-weighted average concentration, a 15-minute short-term exposure limit, or a ceiling limit.

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Okanagan’s share of 2026 smoke days rank among worst

By Kathy Michaels
Castanet
September 3, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada West

©BCWildfireService

Summer isn’t quite over, but it’s shaping up to be one of the smokiest on record, with air-quality warnings blanketing the Okanagan for much of July and August. Warnings urging people to reduce activities because of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, were issued for 13 days in July and 28 days in August across the Okanagan Valley, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Chloe Katsademas. That’s a sharp increase from recent years. In 2025, there were just two warning days in August. In 2024, there were about nine days with warnings, Katsademas said. …So far in 2026, the Penticton weather station has recorded 302 hours of smoke-obscured visibility between April and October. That makes 2026 the third-worst year on record for smoke hours at the station.

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Consultation on proposed amendments to Part 8 of the OHS Regulation

WorkSafeBC
September 1, 2026
Category: Health & Safety
Region: Canada West

Our Policy, Regulation and Research Department is requesting feedback on proposed amendments to Part 8, Personal Protective Clothing and Equipment — Standard of Fit, of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The consultation phase gives stakeholders an opportunity to share feedback before the proposed amendments are taken to public hearing. View the ​proposed regulatory amendments​ and information on how to provide feedback. Please provide your feedback by 4:30 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026.

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Forest Fires

Ainslie Creek no longer out of control, but drought could keep it burning until winter

By Tim Petruk
Castanet
September 3, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BCWildfireService

The Ainslie Creek wildfire is now being held after burning out of control for nearly two months west of Merritt. The BC Wildfire Service changed the fire’s status Thursday morning, one day after removing it from the province’s list of wildfires of note. A fire classified as being held is not expected to spread beyond its current boundaries under forecast conditions and with the suppression work completed to date. The blaze, suspected to be human-caused, was discovered on July 4 and has grown to 67,722 hectares. BCWS said between one and seven millimetres of rain fell across the Brunswick Complex overnight, with slightly cooler temperatures and light winds expected Thursday. Environment Canada is forecasting a high of 20 C in Merritt on Thursday, with southwest winds reaching 20 km/h and a 30 per cent chance of showers late in the afternoon.

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Fire activity in B.C.’s Interior will ‘likely occur’ until winter: BC Wildfire Service

By Jake Courtepatte
The Merritt Herald
August 28, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada West

©BCWildfireService

BC Wildfire Service is warning Thompson-Nicola and Fraser Canyon residents that local wildfire activity will ‘likely occur’ until the winter this year. The Ainslee Creek wildfire, burning out of control since it was sparked in the area of Boston Bar on July 4, remains at almost 68,000 hectares with six evacuation alerts and two evacuation orders in the surrounding area. And despite a weekend forecast that includes up to 5mm of rain on Saturday, the province’s wildfire watchdog says that there is no “fire-ending” rain in the forecast at this time. “Fire activity will likely occur in the interior of the wildfire perimeter until winter due to the extreme drought conditions across most of the trees and soil this wildfire is burning in,” said BC Wildfire Service

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Wildfire threatening Port Hope Simpson grows, but has not reached town structures

By Alex Kennedy
CBC News
September 3, 2026
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada East

The fire that is burning out of control in Port Hope Simpson has more than tripled in size, as Day 2 of efforts to fight the blaze near the southeastern Labrador community comes to a close. The fire that began at an estimated two hectares in size when it was mapped as a possible threat to the community on Wednesday reached five hectares by mid-Thursday morning. As of about 7 p.m., the latest update, it’s seven hectares, according to provincial forestry. However, any spread has not been into the town, thanks to activities through the day. “Today, aerial suppression efforts were supported by three water bombers and two bucketing helicopters, which were effective in preventing the spread of the wildfire,” states the update.

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