David Elstone
A provincial election has been called two years ahead of schedule and just a few days after the Premier met with forest industry groups that were asking for a public Forest Sector Crisis Action Plan to ward off a collapse of the sector. …The following is a report card on the BC NDP’s progress on its 2024 election commitments. At the TLA’s Convention in January 2026, the Minister of Forests was asked to provide a self-assessment of his government’s performance one year into its current mandate. In a moment of candour, the minister offered a grade of “incomplete,” noting that there was more to come. Coincidentally, nine months later, the View From The Stump’s own assessment arrived at the similar grade. …A special mention is warranted. While the Premier and his NDP caucus were largely unsuccessful in delivering on their forest-sector promises, Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar deserves recognition for setting the bar high in using social media to promote and defend the sector.
It is one thing to assign fair, albeit subjective, letter grades. It is another to measure the impact of government decisions through a quantitative lens. …A clinical assessment would conclude that the NDP’s approach to forest policy and industry transformation failed over the last decade because it placed government at the centre of the transformation process. In doing so, it cast industry as an adversary rather than a partner, undermining the very investment and innovation needed to achieve its objectives. External factors, such as markets, can be challenging, but businesses are capable of navigating them. What is more difficult is making investment decisions when there is uncertainty about the long-term reliability of fibre supply. …Rather than viewing industry as a problem to be managed, it should be used as a tool to achieve government’s objectives. When policy changes are necessary, they should be designed to build confidence and enhance certainty.
U.S. President Trump is poised to lift tariffs on some Canadian products — and hit others with new duties — as Republicans in border states lobby for relief from trade actions that have put them in a shaky political position ahead of November’s midterms. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said that the Trump administration will scrap tariffs on some paper and plastic products, refrigeration and packaging equipment, agricultural machinery and seaweed and algae products, among others, after she relayed how damaging these levies have been for consumers and businesses in her state. …The White House said it would levy new Section 338 tariffs on products with certain valves, carpets and waste products “to continue addressing Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. commerce.” The six-page list of 
The U.S. will remove its 50% tariff on certain Canadian thin hardwood plywood, corrugated boxes and coated paperboard from October 30 while imposing the same duty on Canadian thin MDF, hardboard, wood moldings, engineered flooring and kraft paper, according to a 
We’ve had final investment decisions on LNG Canada Phase 2, the Pacific Link pipeline formally designated a project of national interest, and a snap provincial election. These big announcements have overshadowed some smaller good news stories over the past few weeks. …Domtar, it appears, has managed to secure some kind of fibre supply with the provincial government. Details are sketchy, however, because neither Domtar nor the Ministry of Forests bothered to put out press releases on the development. …Another bit of good news in forestry is that Gillfor Manufacturing, a B.C. wood products manufacturing and distribution company, will salvage what is left of Teal Jones, which includes three mills in Surrey and Tree Farm License 46. “The plan is to restart that shake and shingle mill eventually. The other two sawmills will continue to be operated on a two-shift basis, provided there is ample log supply. 
In an Oct. 19 announcement from Cowichan Valley candidate Bert Chen, the B.C. Conservative Party has cast doubt on Crofton residents’ future water quality and promised funding to fix it. In his announcement, Chen promised to secure up $10 million to help revitalize the Crofton Mill site and provide critical support for the community if a Conservative government is elected on Oct. 24. The Domtar mill in Crofton was permanently shuttered in 2025. “With the lost property tax revenues from the mill, the local Municipality of North Cowichan is unable to provide the funding to invest in an independent, municipally-owned water system for Crofton,” said Chen. …“This site is ideal for provincial support due to the adjacent BC Ferries terminal.”
B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson said his party would speed up issuing harvest permits and reduce regulatory costs in an effort to increase “sustainable access” to timber in B.C.’s beleaguered forest industry. … To the province’s key industry group, the Conservative platform appears to get at more of the issues it has been asking for government to address than the NDP policy promises, which aim at industry transformation. “(However) overall, we continue to see a bit of a lack of urgency that’s needed to stem the tide of forest mill closures,” said Kim Haakstad, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries. …The NDP’s Ravi Parmar said much of the Conservative policy resembles measures the previous government was already working toward, such as establishment of a biomass strategy.” Parmar added that the NDP remains committed to reaching a 45 million cubic metres per year in annual timber harvest. [to access the full story a Vancouver Sun subscription is required]
Canada’s first robotic roof truss manufacturing line is located in Huron County, Ontario. “The robotics go slower than human beings, but they’re consistent,” said the Founder and President of Atlas Engineered Products, Hadi Abassi. Abassi bought Clinton Truss in 2018, with the idea of revolutionizing how roof trusses were built in Canada. Two years ago, he started construction of this $20 million facility in Vanastra, Ont., to robotically manufacture roof trusses, streamlining the production process from start to finish. “And not just trusses. We have the same system, and same vision for the component construction, for the walls section and floor sections,” said Abassi. With 10 factories across Canada, Abassi aims to build homes piece by piece, and deliver them to construction sites across North America, speeding up the on-site home construction process. …Helping to enable the expansion in Vanastra, a $4 million grant from Natural Resources Canada’s Forestry Innovation Support Program.
President Donald Trump’s escalating trade fight with Canada is squeezing the economy north of the border, threatening jobs and adding to families’ financial strain as steep U.S. tariffs on roughly $20 billion in goods remain in place. U.S. tariffs have hammered the country’s steel, aluminum, lumber and automobile producers that depend heavily on the American market. Steel exports have fallen by roughly half since the tariffs took effect, while lumber exports were about 20% below 2024 levels earlier this year. Production and jobs have also declined in some of the hardest-hit industries. Canadian families are feeling the squeeze, too. Consumer prices were 3% higher in August than a year earlier, with grocery prices up 2.8% and transportation costs jumping 7.5%, according to the government’s own data. …Scott Lincicome, at the Cato Institute said free trade in products including fertilizer, energy and lumber helps keep costs down for American farmers, homebuilders and consumers.
The Bank of Canada has not raised interest rates since July 2023. And while an eighth-consecutive hold is widely predicted next week, a growing number of economists and traders are now expecting the central bank to hike its trend-setting rate to tamp down stubborn inflation. Mortgage and debt experts say higher rates would have significant impacts on Canada’s sagging real estate market. Payments on variable-rate mortgages would rise immediately, along with rates for new fixed mortgages. Home prices could dip lower. …The volume of home sales nationwide is currently at a 25-year low, says Ben Rabidoux of Ontario-based Edge Realty Analytics. He describes confidence among buyers today as “unbelievably weak across the country,” owing to a slew of economic uncertainties ranging from the Canada-U.S. trade war to the impact of AI on jobs.
Lumber futures fell below $527 per thousand board feet, retreating toward a two-year low amid persistent weakness in the US housing market. Homebuilder confidence has fallen to its lowest level in 14 years, as high mortgage rates, labor shortages and high construction costs continue to weigh on the sector. Mortgage rates have climbed to 7.4%, their highest level in three years, raising borrowing costs, dampening housing demand and weighing on prices. On the other hand, trade tensions with Canada continue to constrain lumber availability and pressuring prices. Although the US Department of Commerce lowered antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 24.75% from 35.16%, a separate 10% US tariff brings total duties to 34.75%, limiting the potential for a supply recovery.
Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.1% in September, data showed on Monday, as higher gasoline and diesel prices pushed the consumer price index above the Bank of Canada’s upper limit once again after three months. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation of 3.2% in September, up from 3% in August. The September inflation figure is the last CPI data before the BoC’s monetary policy decision later this month. On a month-on-month basis, CPI rose by 0.1% in September from a drop of 0.1% in August, Statistics Canada said. BoC Governor Tiff Macklem has said that new forecasts that will be released alongside the rates decision will show higher inflation in Canada. The higher CPI was largely driven by a 19% rise in energy prices on an annual basis, following a 15.4% rise in August. 
TORONTO — A new report says Ontario’s housing market is expected to improve “modestly” next year as favourable economic conditions help push buyers off the sidelines, though higher borrowing costs could dull the extent of the rebound. Desjardins senior economist Kari Norman said the province’s housing sector “is in the midst of a striking contradiction.” Her report called the market “weak” despite improved affordability, greater buyer choice and easing rental conditions. The forecast predicts existing home sales will rise nearly five per cent in 2027 compared with this year, driven by lower prices, rising disposable incomes, policy supports for first‑time buyers and some release of pent‑up demand. But activity would still be well below long‑term norms, the report noted, while balanced market conditions should lead to average price growth of 2.4 per cent next year. The analysis said the interest rate backdrop will likely remain challenging.
For more than 20 years, Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) has protected wildlife that are at risk of being lost. …Nevertheless, these protections are routinely delayed for years. Our recently 
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In the last five years, B.C. has experienced multiple wildfire seasons that displaced thousands, a heat dome that killed more than 600 people and flooding and landslides that closed major highways for days and damaged thousands of homes. It would be hard to tell based on the election promises of B.C.’s political parties. The NDP and the Conservatives have made few campaign commitments relating to B.C.’s increasingly common natural disasters. Promises regarding the climate change that’s linked to many disasters have also been scarce. In last week’s 
THUNDER BAY, Ontaro — Former workers of Dryden’s Weyerhaeuser Pulp and Paper Mill who were exposed to toxic fumes in the early 2000s gathered Thursday to provide updates on the lifelong impacts it has had on their health. The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) invited the former employees to the Thunder Bay OPSEU offices to conduct updated interviews on their health and employment history, to be used in WSIB claims. In total, about 400 workers were exposed to fumes between 2002 and 2004, during the construction of the mill’s recovery boiler #4, said OHCOW’s executive director for projects, Andrew Zarnke. By midday Thursday, 35 of those workers had come to be interviewed. …Many records, according to OHCOW, state that there were no controls, forced ventilation, extraction or plume-control systems. Further records state that emissions were blown into the construction site that was covered with unsealed tarp and siding.