Susan Yurkovich
Recent mill closures have been “gut-wrenching” as the forestry industry faces tough market conditions, the chief executive of Canfor said. The Vancouver-based company announced it’s permanently closing its Fox Creek sawmill in Alberta because there is not enough fibre to sustain it long-term. US tariffs and weak markets have further eroded its viability, it said. …“Our goal is to ensure these operations can run fully and successfully, while generating jobs and supporting communities,” Yurkovich said. …Meanwhile, West Fraser Timber is continuing to assess the impact of the Trump administration’s latest tariff volley. The US plan to impose a 50% tariff onCanadian goods includes several varieties of plywood, paper and other wood-derived products. …West Fraser said its medium-density fibreboard is not directly subject to tariffs.” Year-to-date, 3% of its plywood and 20% of its laminated veneer lumber would have been affected by the latest tariffs, had they been in place during that time.
Burnaby-headquartered Interfor Corp., one of B.C.’s long-standing lumber giants, has told its employees that it will be moving most of its executive and back-office work to an office in the United States. The company didn’t indicate whether it would officially move its headquarters to the office in Georgia that Interfor established in 2014… Interfor did not respond to Postmedia requests for comment. News of the move came as a surprise to the union that represents about 250 Interfor’s workers at two of its three B.C. mills, as well as mills in Ontario. “I read it this morning while vacation with my morning coffee,” said Jeff Bromley, wood council chair for the United Steelworkers. “I understand that they’ve built and purchased a number of operations in the States over the last 20 years,” Bromley added. “But at the end of the day, it’s still a kick in the gut.” …Now he is concerned other companies might follow suit.
Canadian lumber giant Interfor Corp., which blamed U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber when it idled two Northern Ontario sawmills indefinitely in April, has told employees it plans to shift its corporate and functional support operations from the company’s current headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to an office in Georgia. In a memo sent to employees earlier this month and viewed by the Financial Post, chief executive Ian Fillinger said the Peachtree City office, outside Atlanta, will be established as Interfor’s “primary hub for corporate and functional support.” The July 9 memo says “a continued West Coast presence” will be maintained as part of a multi-year operational strategy and that the company hopes to handle the gradual shift to a U.S. corporate support hub largely through attrition and future hiring decisions. …According to Fillinger the changes would position the company’s support functions closer to where the business operates and strengthen how mills and customers are served….
President Trump will impose double-digit tariffs on imports from 60 countries over forced labor violations, US Trade Representative Greer announced. The action will cover 99.4% of US imports and apply to Washington’s top trading partners, according to a fact sheet released by his office. The tariffs are being brought under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. …The new levies, which go into effect at midnight Friday, will replace tariffs that Trump imposed under Section 122 of the trade law earlier this year as they were set to expire. The tariffs are a part of an effort from the administration to push all the country’s trading partners to eliminate forced labor from the global supply chain. Ten percent tariffs will be implemented on countries that have made commitments to adopt and enforce forced labor import prohibitions, while countries that have not enacted a forced labor import prohibition will be hit with a 12.5 percent tariff.
Donald Trump’s latest 50% tariffs against Canada would likely be shot down in any court challenge, trade law experts say. …Trump still needs to prove that Canada is “discriminating” against American trade, said international trade lawyer Barry Appleton. But the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade — negotiated and signed by the US during Trump’s first term in office — includes the things he’s now complaining about. “It’s a hard thing to walk into court and call your own trade deal discrimination,” said Appleton. “It’s harder still when that same deal has a dispute-settlement process built for exactly this kind of complaint, and Washington is choosing to skip it and go straight to tariffs.” …US trade lawyer Marc Wheat said US importers will soon challenge the Section 338 tariffs at the U.S. Court of International Trade, and will likely win. While the White House could keep appealing and the Supreme Court may not the case.
The Independent Lumber Manufacturers’ Association (ILMA) has chosen a convention theme that’s sure to get people talking: WTF? Where’s The Fibre? The title may raise a smile, but the question is serious. 
A niche corner of B.C.’s forest sector … is now staring down a deadline for a crushing blow in the next round of tariff charges announced by U.S. President Trump. Those new charges would slap a 50 per cent tariff on $28 billion of Canadian exports including B.C. plywood, veneers and plywood panels starting Aug. 19, leaving producers short on strategies to adjust. “(We’re) just hoping that Trump is flip-flopping again,” said Bhavjit Thandi, chief financial officer of Richmond Plywood. …Thandi said Richmond Plywood sells most of the output of its 450-employee mill into the Canadian market, but the 10 to 12 per cent it has been shipping into the U.S. represents its best and highest-value product. …To Brian Menzies, executive director of the Independent Wood Producers Association, the threatened tariffs add insult to injury for his members that have been struggling for almost a decade under the punitive duties of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute. [A Vancouver Sun subscription is required for full story access]
VANCOUVER, BC – Canfor announced that it will permanently close its Fox Creek sawmill in Fox Creek, Alberta. …The Fox Creek sawmill, destroyed by a fire in 2008, was rebuilt in 2011 as a single-shift operation to process the uplift in available timber as part of the Province of Alberta’s strategy to reduce the amount of pine beetle susceptible forests. …However, with the end of the pine beetle strategy and with wildfire-damaged timber now largely exhausted, there is insufficient fibre to sustain the operation over the long term. Coupled with prolonged weak markets and punishing duties and tariffs, this facility is no longer viable. …Susan Yurkovich, Canfor CEO said “This decision does not diminish the dedication and contribution of our Fox Creek team. We are committed to helping those impacted.” …The closure of Fox Creek sawmill represents a reduction of 120 million board feet of production capacity. Operations are expected to be concluded by late summer.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC — Standing in the pouring rain in front of Canfor’s Northwood Pulp Mill in Prince George, provincial and federal opposition members called on their respective levels of government to do more to assist BC and Canada’s struggling forestry industry. …Tamara Jansen, the Conservative MP for Cloverdale-Langley City, said that the closure announcement isn’t isolated. “And many people genuinely believed that things were going to change”. …Jansen called on the federal government to reduce red tape, eliminate the industrial carbon tax that remains in place after the consumer version was repealed and change other factors preventing Canadian industries like the pulp sector from being competitive. …Bob Zimmer, Conservative MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, said… even though trade tensions between Canada and the US have escalated, the problem has gone on since the federal Liberals took power in 2015 and have failed to secure an agreement.
Carrier Forest Products Ltd. plans to indefinitely “curtail” production at its Big River sawmill later this year, resulting in 117 layoffs. Carrier recently announced that output from its Saskatchewan mill is to halt in October of this year, citing weak market conditions in addition to wildfires and American tariffs. “For over 100 years, the forestry industry has provided a source of income for the residents of this community as well as attracting many newcomers into town,” said Clint Panter, the reeve of the town council in Big River. …The NDP has blamed the governing Saskatchewan Party for the layoffs, stating that a lack of support for the forestry industry left the company vulnerable to tariffs, fires, disease and insects. In response, Saskatchewan Minister of Energy and Resources Chris Beaudry said the sawmill’s closure is “a direct result of the unjustified U.S. tariffs and duties, a weak pricing environment and a falling exchange rate.”
Department of Finance Canada highlighted a $100 million loan to Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. through the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility. As part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to support and protect Canadian businesses facing trade-related uncertainty, this loan will provide the company with the flexibility to strengthen its near-term operations, including rebuilding its log inventory, and adapt to evolving market conditions while protecting jobs. Millar Western produces high-quality hardwood and softwood pulp from three mills in Slave Lake and Whitecourt, Alberta, and Quesnel, British Columbia. The company employs more than 420 full-time workers and supports approximately 300 contractors in maintenance, field-level forestry and consulting services. As an export-oriented business, Millar Western ships most of its products internationally, with 93 per cent of its sales going to Asian markets, primarily China.
SAULT STE. MARIE — The Ontario government is partnering with the Government of Canada to invest more than $7.2 million through the Canada-Ontario Workforce Tariff Response to help protect workers in the North, strengthen critical industries and build a more competitive and resilient economy in the face of global economic uncertainty. This investment will help more than 500 workers across northern Ontario upgrade their skills, transition into in-demand careers and ensure local employers have the skilled workforce they need to grow and succeed. “Through these investments, we’re helping workers transition into good-paying careers, supporting employers facing economic pressures and strengthening the industries that will drive Ontario’s future prosperity,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Ontario will deliver the funding through Skills Advance Ontario, which partners with employers and training providers to help workers transition into the sectors that are driving economic growth and building the province’s long-term competitiveness. 
VANCOUVER, BC — West Fraser Timber reported the second quarter results of 2026. Second quarter sales were $1.434 billion, compared to $1.334 billion in the first quarter of 2026. Second quarter earnings were $(61) million, compared to earnings of $(188) million in the first quarter of 2026. Second quarter Adjusted EBITDA was $59 million compared to $(66) million in the first quarter of 2026. Other highlights include: Lumber segment Adjusted EBITDA of $41 million, including a $13 million favourable in-year duties adjustment; North America Engineered Wood Products segment Adjusted EBITDA of $13 million; Europe Engineered Wood Products segment Adjusted EBITDA1 of $13 million; and Other Operating Segments Adjusted EBITDA of $(8) million, due largely to maintenance at our Cariboo pulp facility. …”West Fraser’s second quarter results delivered continued progress against our business priorities supported by improved market conditions,” said Sean McLaren, West Fraser’s CEO….Based on our current outlook… capital expenditures for 2026 are expected to remain within the $300 million to $350 million range.
Canada’s economy showed signs of growth in the second quarter of 2026, but uncertainty from U.S. trade policies and the war in Iran means monetary policy must remain nimble, the Bank of Canada’s governing council said during deliberations preceding its July 15 interest rate decision. A summary of deliberations that led to the council’s decision to hold interest rates steady at 2.25 per cent shows that members discussed Canada’s sluggish economy. Gross domestic product had not grown between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, members said, and the heightened uncertainty around tariffs and the Canada–U.S.–Mexico (CUSMA) agreement had kept the economy in excess supply. However, members noted recent indicators that showed the economy was recovering in the second quarter of 2026 after it adjusted to the U.S. tariffs and geopolitical turbulence, and the growth was broadening instead of relying on strong consumer and government spending.
Canadian wildfires are driving up the price of wood products that the US construction industry depends on — with knock-on effects on housing. Western Spruce Pine Fir futures were selling for $653 per thousand board feet in late July, not far off last year’s high, and up from a low of $524 in late January. The 937 wildfires threatening forests throughout BC are driving that increase. Alex Strong at the NAHB, said President Trump’s proposed 50% tariff on Canadian goods is adding to uncertainty around the supply chain. Set to take effect Aug. 19, the 50% tariffs would directly apply to Canadian plywood, fiberboard and other wood-derived products used in homebuilding. Canada is one of the top suppliers of fiberboard to the US. Derek Nighbor, CEO of FPAC, said that the country is also America’s third-largest supplier of plywood. …The US Congress Joint Economic Committee warned that Trump’s tariffs on a range of materials could increase building costs by $10,900 per home.
Two numbers describe President Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, and they point in opposite directions. 50% is the rate, imposed Monday under Section 338 of the Tariff Act. 2.5% is the effect. The Hub‘s reporting on the proclamations puts the affected goods at roughly 5.5% of Canadian exports now crossing the border duty-free. Weight the new duties by those trade flows and Canada’s average effective tariff rate rises by about 2.5 percentage points, pushing the blended rate toward 10%. The composition of the list reinforces the arithmetic. …Before this round, Canada faced the lowest overall tariff rate of any US trading partner—roughly 6% weighted by 2024 trade flows. Even after the duties take effect in mid-August, Canada remains among the least-tariffed economies selling into the American market. …At the level of the firm, the damage is real and concentrated. …At the level of the national economy, the needle barely moves. Both readings are true simultaneously.
Federal Way, Washington – Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) has expanded its 
Canada’s wood products manufacturers are on the operating table, bleeding out. …The United States has slapped tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum, and automobiles — but many Canadians don’t know the Section 232 and 338 tariffs also target wood products, like furniture and kitchen cabinets. …Those US tariffs have created a two-headed monster. On one side, wood products manufacturers like us have lost meaningful access to our largest export market. On the other, every other country in the world is now scrambling to find alternative buyers for product they can no longer sell into the United States. They found one: Canada. Today, Canada’s warehouses are bursting with cheap imported wood products. …Local manufacturers are prepared to compete globally, but not on an impossibly imbalanced playing field. …The solution is not a subsidy, or more loan programs. We need a short-term provisional tariff now, to bridge the gap between launching an investigation and finding an appropriate longer-term solution.
Canada has long been recognized as a global leader in advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, particularly since Aboriginal rights and title were constitutionally entrenched in 1982. While significant progress has been made, reconciliation remains an ongoing process, with courts continuing to shape how these rights are defined, respected, and implemented. A pivotal moment came with the Tsilhqot’in Nation v British Columbia decision, in which the Supreme Court of Canada granted Aboriginal title to a large area of land in British Columbia. This ruling established key legal tests for proving Aboriginal title and outlined how governments may justify infringements. Importantly, the decision affirmed that such lands are no longer Crown lands and are subject to Indigenous rights of “exclusive use and occupation.” More recently, courts in British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick have begun addressing how Aboriginal title may intersect with privately owned land. These cases introduce a complex legal tension: both Aboriginal title and fee simple ownership confer rights of exclusive use and occupation. The question of how these rights can coexist on the same parcel of land remains unresolved and is now central to ongoing legal debates.
As more than 900 wildfires burn across Canada, prompting evacuation orders and pushing Ontario into its worst wildfire season on record, officials are renewing calls for the country to develop a national wildfire strategy through the creation of a federal agency. Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national emergency agency that is mandated to respond to wildfires. After a disastrous July for wildfires that razed First Nations communities in northeasern Ontario and sent poisonous smoke southward through the US, provincial premier Doug Ford called for a countrywide response to the wildfire threat. “We need a large national fire strategy. We seem to be going through this every single year,” Ford told reporters. … A national wildfire strategy through the creation of a federal emergency agency would help Canada be more prepared, said Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.
While US President Trump threatens tariffs over wildfire smoke drifting south, Canadian fire experts say large forest fires are inevitable. Over the past week, Trump has criticized Canadian fire management and said the country is “poisoning” U.S. air. …But experts say Canada’s worsening fire seasons reflect a harder reality: not every blaze, or the smoke that comes from it, can be stopped. “Saying that you would need to extinguish very huge fires like this is similar to trying to stop a hurricane,” said Martin Girardin, a forest ecology researcher with NRCan. …As of Monday, more than 900 fires were burning across Canada and more than 3.7 million hectares had burned in 2026, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System dashboard. Girardin said climate change is helping drive worse fire seasons by bringing warmer temperatures and drier conditions, while many forests also have a buildup of fuel, including mature trees and other biomass.
For the third time in the past four years, Americans are choking on smoke from Canada’s burning forests. Last week, roughly 900 wildfires turned the skies over Minneapolis, Chicago and New York into an apocalyptic haze. …Why does this keep happening? …Canada isn’t the only one with a wildfire problem. America’s forests are burning too. Fires are raging in northern Minnesota and across much of the western United States. …The media and politicians are quick to blame climate change, but the reality is that forest management works. Fuel treatments such as thinning, brush clearance and prescribed burning remove small trees, brush and dead material that allow flames to climb into the canopy and explode into a dangerous crown fire. …Canada does strikingly little of this work. The problem is that Canada has regulated the cure nearly out of existence. …American forest management is snarled by many of the same problems. 
After a visit to Stanley Park, Nina Shoroplova, a Vancouver naturalist, went on to research and write a book about the park and its trees. Stanley Park holds a fascination for many. Sometimes called the crown jewel of the city, the park contains about 600,000 trees. But the urban forest is changing in ways that challenge both the health of the ecosystem and ideas about the park itself. An outbreak of western hemlock looper killed about 30 per cent of the large trees in Stanley Park as of April 2023… Recent droughts have made the damage more severe, increasing the wildfire risk in the park… Amid some opposition, park board crews have cut down about 14,000 trees since fall 2023. …The idea that Stanley Park is an area of untamed wilderness has always held appeal. But its history and present reality are much more complex, said Sean Kheraj, author of Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History. …The reality is that Stanley Park’s forest has long been influenced by people. [A Vancouver Sun subscription is required for full access]
PORT ALBERNI, BC — It’s been almost a year since Mount Underwood erupted south of Port Alberni, quickly spreading across a bone-dry slope to become the largest wildfire the area has seen in over a century. While this forest fire season has been relatively mild by comparison, some residents are questioning if slash left over from past logging fueled the rapid growth of the blaze in August 2025. …“BC Wildfire Service described that behaviour as ‘explosive’,” stated the alliance. “We are concerned that the fire’s behaviour and size were the direct and foreseeable result of fuel hazard conditions created by rapid logging and establishment of conifer plantations.” …With an investigation still underway, the BC Wildfire Service has not disclosed what caused Mount Underwood. But Mosaic believes that “preliminary information suggests it was caused by human activity.” “There were no active forestry operations in the area at the time the fire started,” stated Mosaic. 
A pest is placing huge swaths of BC’s forests under strain while adding a red tinge to the province’s landscape. Data from the Ministry shows the current outbreak of the western spruce budworm was mapped last year at 1.7 million hectares, more than double the previous two outbreaks which peaked in 1987 and 2008 at around 800,000 hectares. The budworm is native to BC and has been studied for a century due to the visible, and at times, deadly impact it can have on the province’s forests. …The pest takes a year to complete its life cycle. The eggs hatch in about 12 days, resulting in larvae that feed on tree needles, causing them to turn red. “These trees are not dead,” said a statement from the Ministry of Forest. “They may die after successive years of defoliation.” The ministry said younger, understory trees are more susceptible to being killed by the budworm.
In BC, almost 40% of the wildfires that started between 2015 and 2024 were sparked by people — our campfires, our infrastructure, our vehicles. To avoid preventable fires, officials ban campfires, restrict the use of heavy machinery and sometimes prohibit the use of off-road vehicles. But before making those decisions, they need to determine just how bad the fire danger is in the first place. …The billboards, with their green, yellow, orange and red markers that denote different fire danger levels. …Forest fire danger rating research began in Canada in the 1920s with studies in experimental plots to investigate the moisture content and flammability of forest fuels — everything from the fine needles and twigs that litter the forest floor to the deeper organic layers below. Over time, researchers incorporated that work into a series of scientific models now used across Canada and around the world to estimate wildfire danger and fire behaviour.
BC Parks describes it as “a luxuriously forested sanctuary that is without a doubt one of the most remarkable wild places on Vancouver Island.” But right now, they also say it’s “inaccessible by vehicle” and that “the day-use areas, campground, and trails are currently unmaintained.” That’s because it’s blocked by landslides on one side and locked metal gates on the other. …Instead, they directed questions to Tsawak-qin Forestry, the company responsible for both the metal gates and, they say, for clearing the landslides. …In an emailed statement, Tsawak-qin told The Narwhal that they are “working with government and others to open access to the western, public access point of the park,” but didn’t offer a timeline. …Neither BC Parks nor the Ministry of Forests have plans to clear the landslides. The responsibility for clearing that road, they say, lies with the logging companies that use it.
TORONTO — On World Nature Conservation Day, a new report published by Ontario Nature demonstrates how Bill 5’s Species Conservation Act (SCA), which repealed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), creates critical protection gaps for 106 migratory birds, aquatic species and species of Special Concern. The report – Bridging the Gap: Assessing Recent Changes to Species at Risk Protections in Ontario – shows that the ESA provided an effective, though imperfect, framework for species conservation and recovery. The loss of this framework is a symptom of a much broader trend in weakened environmental protections across the province and beyond, where the most vulnerable species and habitats are seen as “red tape”. This pattern exacerbates the ongoing biodiversity crisis, which will ultimately undermine the economic and social resilience of Ontario, in addition to further imperiling our precious natural world.
Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park was nearly leveled in a 2025 storm. Now thousands of new trees have been planted to build a new forest for the future …In 2025, a powerful storm crashed down on Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park outside North Bay, Ont., dropping trees on tents, trailers and an environmental education centre. Since then, park staff and Forests Canada have been working to replant some of the trees that were lost and clean up the park to allow visitors in again this season. Extreme weather is becoming more common and severe as the climate warms. At the same time, global warming means the type of trees that will thrive in northern environments like Samuel de Champlain is also changing, and the restoration work has to account for that.
The wildfire situation in northwestern Ontario has drawn growing global attention. There have been extraordinary stories of close calls and narrow escapes from the rapidly advancing fires. Complaints are coming (ironically) from the United States over the impacts of the resulting fire smoke on American cities. In the short term, attention is rightly focused on the immediate responses to the fires. …At the same time, the fires need to be viewed in a longer-term context. Increased incidences of large-scale forest fires, particularly in the boreal region stretching across Canada from Labrador to the Yukon, have been a predicted impact of climate change in Canada for more than three decades. …The province needs to both adapt to the reality of a changing climate and its consequences and develop a serious strategy for not making the problem worse. So far, Ontario is failing on both fronts.
At its July 2026 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors approved amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. The amendments relate to 
When people see or hear that a fire has started beside a highway or road, many probably think that a casually discarded cigarette butt tossed out a window is the culprit. Not so, says Ashcroft Fire Rescue Chief Josh White. …he says that most roadside fires could be prevented if drivers took a few simple steps to make their vehicles more roadworthy… According to the BC Wildfire Service, only 0.8 per cent of human-caused fires in B.C. each year are caused by discarded smoking materials. By contrast, vehicles are responsible for 3.8 per cent of human-caused fires each year. …White says that there are three main things people can do to reduce the risk of vehicle fires. “Get the vehicle serviced regularly; don’t overload the vehicle; and carry a working fire extinguisher. It won’t necessarily put a fire completely out, but it’s good at knocking down a small fire”
B.C. Hydro says it will have to replace hundreds of power poles due to wildfires raging in the southern part of the province, but that its major transmission lines have escaped major damage. “There is quite a long list of items that are going to be replaced,” B.C. Hydro spokesperson Bob Gammer told CBC’s Daybreak North. The Pear Lake wildfire, burning near Clinton, has torched more than 230 power poles and knocked out power to about 1,100 customers. In the Boston Bar area, the fires of the Brunswick fire complex have left about 100 customers without power and burned 34 transmission poles. Significant quantities of power line and transformers will also need to be replaced, Gammer said. However, the fires have not knocked out any of B.C. Hydro’s major 500 kV transformer systems, and all of its primary transmission corridors — which supply power to millions of British Columbia — remain in service, the Crown corporation told CBC News.
