Stuart Muir
Six weeks before Northwood, on June 3, the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force—a panel appointed by the Government of Canada, not an industry lobby—released its final report. Its verdict was not the one the political class in Victoria has spent a decade rehearsing. The crisis, the task force concluded, is not primarily the product of tariffs, markets or natural disaster. In its own words, “the most fundamental challenges facing the forest sector are homegrown: lack of access to cost-competitive fibre, underinvestment, inadequate domestic construction … a crisis of confidence by our workforce and the communities in which we operate.”
…Here is where I land, and where the task force lands with me: this is a policy-made crisis, which means it has a policy solution. Three conditions, and none of them require a single British Columbian to choose between a healthy forest and a working one. First, stabilize fibre with long-term commitments tied to specific mills—the task force recommends a shift toward area-based tenure on leases of twenty-five years or longer. …Second, work with Ottawa on single-window approvals that recognize provincial equivalency: one application, one decision, one set of conditions. …Third, increase active management—more harvesting, more thinning, more silviculture—not as a favour to industry but as the most effective wildfire policy available to us, and the only way to rebuild the fibre base. The province controls the land, the tenure, the rules and the permits. It also means the province owns the results—the $17.4 billion, the hundred thousand jobs, the eight million hectares, and now the shuttered gates at Northwood. Ottawa has finally said the word out loud. Homegrown. The only question left is whether Victoria will admit it grew this, too, and start growing something better.
The Canadian lumber industry saw enormous price spikes during the pandemic years of 2020-2022, with costs close to triple what they are today for some products. … “We saw prices skyrocket during COVID, but so too did the cost to operate,” said Aspen Dudzic, the Alberta Forest Products Assocation’s communications director. “And interestingly, post-COVID, we saw the market prices for lumber go down, but the costs to operate have not come down in the same way.” Even though lumber costs have seen a huge drop in prices in a vacuum, why haven’t these cost savings been passed on to the consumer? …“The supply chain is really complex,” Dudzic said. “Nothing we do operates in a vacuum, so there’s a lot of other compounding costs that we have to look at, like inflationary pressures, upticks in fuel and energy prices. …Top of mind is the ongoing trade war with the US.
SURREY, British Columbia — The Honourable Randeep Sarai, Secretary of State (International Development) announced over $8 million in RTRI funding for four Surrey businesses to help them diversify exports, grow locally, and compete globally – building prosperity for British Columbians and all Canadians. These investments support the Government of Canada’s measures to help businesses in sectors affected by global trade disruptions – such as forestry, manufacturing, and steel and aluminum – boost productivity, reduce costs, build more resilient supply chains, and reach new markets. … More details about these 
British Columbia is expanding the BC Timber Sales Value-Added Manufacturing Program by creating a new dedicated category that will secure fibre for custom cutters and processors. BC’s action builds on Canada’s Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, which was commissioned in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new duties and tariffs on Canadian wood products. The task force recommends strong support for value-added operators so Canada can build high-quality products at home. “British Columbia’s path forward for forestry can’t just be providing dimensional lumber to Americans. We have to make more in B.C.,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. …Custom cutters and processors are a group within the value-added wood-manufacturing sector without their own sawmilling facilities. …BC Wood Specialties Group Association’s chair, Kelly Marconi said “our custom cutting and processing members were part of the task force’s public consultation, so we are pleased to see this inclusive change.”
