The government of British Columbia has announced plans to institute a “stumpage deferral program that keeps the lights on” for Canada’s softwood lumber producers, who continue to maintain massive excess capacity that has been devastating for US softwood lumber companies and workers. BC’s latest subsidy program will effectively inject between USD 124 million to USD 242 million of liquidity into the coffers of BC sawmills over the next 11 months. …”Canada is not entitled to the U.S. market, especially when it engages in unfair trade practices and maintains its disruptive levels of excess lumber capacity that it then dumps into the U.S. market,” explained van Heyningen, adding that “political attacks on the President’s trade policies backed by Canada First organizations in the United States will not help address the true causes of the housing affordability problem, such as the cost of land, regulatory costs, labor costs, and homebuilder profitability rates.”
US President Trump’s point man on trade talks says Canada needs to accept that tariffs will be a part of any deal with the administration, including renewal of the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). In interviews after Trump’s state of the union address, US trade representative Jamieson Greer suggested Canada can’t expect to land a trade agreement that is free of tariffs. …”If Canada wants to agree that we can have some level of higher tariff on them while they open up their markets to us on things like dairy and other things, then that’s a helpful conversation.” It’s the clearest signal yet from the Trump administration that it’s aiming for a fundamental rewrite of the free-trade deals that have existed since NAFTA took effect in 1994. …He also criticized Canada for failing to agree to US requests to back off from “practices that we think are unfair”.
President Donald Trump announced a temporary import duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, shortly after the US Supreme Court struck down his tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Section 122 surcharge is scheduled to take effect February 24 and remain in place for up to 150 days. Under the proclamation, Section 122 duties do not apply to goods that are subject to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 or that are USMCA compliant. The implications for wood products are as follows:
Delaware – President Trump’s announcement of a 15% tariff following last week’s Supreme Court ruling has created uncertainty in financial markets. While some retailers and consumer companies may benefit from reduced trade barriers, domestic lumber and packaging firms face increased competition from cheaper imports. …On Monday, domestic lumber companies saw their stock prices drop amid concerns that cheaper foreign imports could undercut their pricing power. The court’s tariff decision threatens to erode the competitive advantage that domestic packaging and lumber businesses previously held against lower-cost foreign competitors, industry analysts warn. RBC analysts identified potential negative consequences for companies including Clearwater Paper, Rayonier, Sylvamo, and Smurfit WestRock. A recent industry survey revealed that most U.S. purchasers reported declining containerboard prices in February, as increased European imports expanded supply and created additional pricing pressures. Monday trading saw Smurfit and domestic competitor International Paper decline by 7% and 6%, respectively.
US President Donald Trump just lost his biggest emergency tariff weapon at the US Supreme Court – but for Canadian exporters and long‑term investors, the real story is that the pressure has shifted to narrower, more strategic sectors that matter for jobs, growth and returns. …Trump reacted by promising new tariffs through other statutes. …Section 232 now defines Canada’s real exposure. …Softwood timber and lumber: 10 percent tariffs imposed last October, alongside US countervailing and anti‑dumping duties on Canadian lumber that the Commerce Department increased from 14.5 percent to 35 percent earlier this year. …Upholstered wooden furniture, cabinets and vanities: 25 percent tariffs since last October; a planned increase in January was paused. …Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for US–Canadian trade relations, told CBC News that “what’s hurting the Canadian economy are the sectoral tariffs under a different American law,” and said this “reminds us again of the importance of diversifying our trading relationships.” 
The US Lumber Coalition has expanded its list of complaints against Canadian softwood producers. The group has presented nine “new subsidy allegations,” claiming that Canadian producers benefit from federal government programs, including one that offers refundable tax credits for clean technology such as solar power. …The Commerce Department is investigating the nine new allegations put forward by the group. Canada has repeatedly rejected American arguments that Canadian producers benefit from subsidies and also denies dumping. …One of the group’s complaints targets a federal program in Canada, open to eligible forestry companies, that provides refundable tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage. In addition, the group’s allegations name provincial programs in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. …The Commerce Department deferred a potential probe, suggested by the Coalition, into cases pertaining to alleged subsidies for long-term timber tenures in BC and Alberta. [to access the full story a Globe & Mail subscription is required]
Raw logs were being loaded for export at the shuttered Crofton pulp mill – just weeks after hundreds of local workers were laid off over a lack of wood fibre, and as about 120 sidelined Chemainus sawmill employees brace for their EI benefits to run dry. “I don’t want a handout, I want a job,” said Brian Bull, who was laid off from Western Forest Products’ Chemainus sawmill. …North Cowichan’s mayor says repeated appeals to federal officials to grant workers the additional 20 weeks of EI benefits promised by the Prime Minister in the summer of 2025 have gone unanswered. “There’s about 120 workers impacted at the Chemainus sawmill. The majority are set to lose their EI benefits next month. …So laid-off Chemainus sawmill workers are urging the provincial government to stop raw log exports. Elzinga said he fears their the Chemainus sawmill may never re-open, due a lack of fibre supply.
Snuneymuxw First Nation is calling on other levels of government to act to protect its waters following an oil spill and long-standing discharge of “toxic sawmill effluent” at Duke Point near Nanaimo. The nation is calling for a full environmental investigation following the incidents it says are caused by Environmental 360 and Western Forest Products. The nation has sent letters to the federal, provincial and municipal governments calling on them to act. This comes after an 
The Quebec government says it will hold a “mini-reform” of the province’s forest regime to provide relief for sawmills and other businesses pressured by cumulative U.S. tariffs. Jean-François Simard, Quebec’s minister of natural resources and forests, said that the changes aim to prevent plant closures and job losses which have surged in recent months. Simard said in a statement on Tuesday that 60,000 jobs are at risk. Quebec’s forestry and logging industry is the second largest in Canada in terms of employment, according to Statistics Canada. The forest regime dictates how Quebec’s forests are managed and harvested. The announcement comes days after a group of Indigenous land guardians and First Nations hereditary chiefs filed a lawsuit seeking formal recognition of their rights over a vast stretch of Quebec. Their legal challenge aims to curb industrial logging and ensure the protection of their traditional way of life.
The decision by the US Supreme Court to invalidate many of President Trump’s tariffs has been met with mixed reactions in Quebec, as the steel, aluminum and lumber sectors remain subject to US tariffs. Economy Minister Jean Boulet said, “its effects for Quebec seem limited,” noting that Quebec exports in accordance with CUSMA were already exempt. “American tariffs on lumber and other key sectors remain in place,” Boulet stressed. …Stakeholders from Quebec’s economic and union sectors pointed out that Friday’s ruling is far from putting an end to the trade war with our southern neighbors. …“While this decision is great news for free trade, its impact on Canada remains limited and we are not out of the woods yet,” said senior public policy analyst Gabriel Giguère in a statement. Moreover, the review of the USMCA planned for this year still looms over Canada-US relations.
The strong momentum and bull run of basic materials carried over into 2026 and appears poised to be the TSX’s top-performing sector for the second consecutive year. While mining heavyweights continue to lead the surge, lumber stocks are delivering market-beating returns. Stella-Jones, Canfor Corporation, and Doman Building Materials are worth watching right now. These companies offer operational leverage and have maintained resilience amid persistent price volatility and trade restrictions.
Prices of products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (
FPInnovations’ latest newsletter pulls articles from their blog that feature several developments of interest to Canada’s forest sector. An update to its 
PRINCE GEORGE – British Columbia’s Forests Minister Ravi Parmar has announced that changes to BC Timber Sales are beginning to yield positive results, particularly in the Prince George area. The province aims to boost job creation, support local mills, and enhance forest health through this updated approach. Following a 2021 review of BC Timber Sales, several recommendations were made, and since then, the province has reported an increase in timber sales across British Columbia. This includes the recent auction of two new commercial thinning sales in the Prince George area, marking a significant achievement for the region.
The mood was jubilant at Mount Washington Alpine Resort on Vancouver Island after a weekend storm saw 108 centimetres of snow blanket the resort. The snow was a welcome reprieve from the warm and wet weather that started the season… A 
The forest industry and related associations, unions and community leaders have now coalesced behind the banner “forestry is a solution.” Their purpose, they say, is “to address the urgent challenges, from building affordable housing to reducing wildfire risks in our backyards” and to “rally British Columbians to support forestry workers and their families.” They will roll out the old dogma that BC practices the most sustainable forestry in the world. …The real purpose, I suspect, is that the coalition wants to continue the old model of intensive industrial forestry, despite the reality that our forests can no longer support this outdated model. In 2003, in an address at UBC, Pedersen, the chief forester of the day, stated that the forest industries’ plan was to harvest BC’s primary forests as quickly as possible and convert them into densely planted managed forests. Today, they have achieved that vision.
A community science initiative is uncovering previously unrecorded fungi across Greater Victoria, highlighting the region’s rich and still largely unknown biodiversity. Some discoveries may even represent species new to science. The project, MycoMap BC, invites the public to photograph, collect and submit mushroom and slime mould samples for DNA sequencing. Since launching last fall, nearly 14,000 collections have been submitted across British Columbia, including about 2,500 from Greater Victoria. “We’re building baseline data on fungal biodiversity that simply doesn’t exist yet,” said Elora Adamson, project coordinator at the University of Victoria biodiversity lab. As of mid-February, roughly 350 DNA sequencing results have been processed. Adamson said 11 collections represent species recorded for the first time in British Columbia. … Of those results, six newly recorded fungi were found in Greater Victoria, four in Sooke and two in Victoria.
Nearly 40 Indigenous land guardians, alongside hereditary and traditional chiefs, have filed a lawsuit seeking formal recognition of their rights over a vast stretch of Quebec. Their legal challenge aims to curb industrial logging and ensure the protection of their traditional way of life. The application, filed in Quebec Superior Court last week, covers a territory spanning between the St. Lawrence River, the Saint-Maurice River valley and the forested areas of northern Mauricie, according to the document. The plaintiffs are specifically asking the court to declare all supply guarantees and intervention permits granted to forestry companies null and void. This legal move follows a summer of tensions marked by numerous blockades across the ancestral lands of several Indigenous nations. These actions were spearheaded by MAMU First Nation — a collective of land guardians from the Atikamekw and Innu nations — to protest a proposed overhaul of the province’s forestry regime.
COWICHAN BAY, BC — Simon Fraser University researchers have uncovered concerning fibreglass contamination in a key estuary on Vancouver Island, raising concerns about how an as-yet overlooked contaminant could affect aquatic birds, marine life and coastal communities that rely on shellfish and seafood. A 