When the City of Nanaimo tabled a zoning amendment to Bylaw 4500 that could effectively change the heavy industry zoning in Nanaimo on Nov. 17, there was one main target: Nanaimo Forest Products. NFP owns Harmac Pacific, ‘the little pulp mill that did,’ which continues to pay around 350 full-time employee-owners while maintaining consistent profitability, and is a major Vancouver Island success story. They’ve done that thanks to an employee ownership model that sees workers share in its profits, as well as clever leadership which has made several key investments. …One of NFP’s key strategic moves was purchasing the 61 hectares adjacent to Harmac, which is industrial land. Developing that will benefit NFP and its worker-shareholders, companies that want to set up business in Nanaimo with ocean access, Harmac employees and taxpayers.
The anti-Harmac bylaw specifically targets bio-mass/cogeneration, thermal electricity generation from fossil fuels or biomass, liquefied natural gas, petroleum refineries, and anything else that might produce a whiff of emissions. Not to mention that Harmac uses biomass to supply most of its energy needs and they use 100 per cent biomass to produce all of the electricity it supplies to BC Hydro. It would make sense that future operations should include similar companies as fuel costs rise. The original goal of having Harmac where it is – and Duke Point – was to move the industrial land out of town where exhaust wouldn’t impact local residents. This motion aims to curtail that. …NFP has been progressive in its thinking and pro-active in its movements. Jobs on that site will be good for them and for the local economy. An expanded industrial tax base could be expected to keep residential taxes lower.
Western Forest Products says the temporary curtailment at its Chemainus sawmill will extend into the new year, while work slowdowns are expected at its other mills across Vancouver Island in December. The WFP curtailment in Chemainus began in June, affecting about 150 workers, with work yet to resume. …Meanwhile, reduced hours are expected at other work sites on the Island later this month. “In the latter half of December, we will take temporary downtime at our Saltair mill in Ladysmith, Duke Point mill in Nanaimo, and Cowichan Bay mill in Duncan,” said Babita Khunkhun, senior director of communications at WFP. “This will involve reduced operating hours, an extended holiday break and adjusted shift schedules.” Khunkhun says regular operations are expected to resume at all of those mills – except for Chemainus – on Jan. 6 “depending on market conditions and available log supply.”
VANCOUVER, BC
When it comes to what ultimately lies behind Crofton’s impending closure, previous BC Liberal and NDP governments past and present all have much to answer for. Both were at the helm as tumultuous changes rocked BC’s forestry sector. And both did little of consequence in response. The result is not only pain for workers and their families, but a big economic hit for local government. …The first change that governments ignored was the disintegration of what were once highly integrated forest companies. At one point, each of B.C.’s three remaining coastal pulp mills — Crofton, Harmac and Howe Sound — were part of a continuous production chain owned by the same company. In the case of Harmac and Crofton, that company was MacMillan Bloedel, while Howe Sound’s pulp mill was co-owned by Canfor. With integrated companies, all aspects of production from the tree standing in the forest to final products were linked.
Domtar’s announcement of its Crofton pulp and paper mill closure was a major and far-reaching loss for its workers, the North Cowichan community, and the broader forest-industry supply chain across the BC Coast. It is especially difficult knowing that this closure was preventable. Industry, labour and municipal governments have been warning the BC government about the risk of mill closures for many months. The government was given numerous recommendations, solutions, and opportunities that could have helped avoid this outcome, but has largely failed to act with the urgency that was required. …This closure underscores the many challenges facing BC’s coastal forest sector: ongoing constraints on access to economically viable fibre, an uncompetitive business cost structure, and regulatory uncertainty. For TLA members, these pressures threaten the stability of their operations and the forestry-dependent communities they support. The TLA remains committed to working with government and industry partners to stabilize the sector…
More than 100 unionized North Island forestry workers on strike rallied in Campbell River on Wednesday. They’ve been without a contract for more than six months. They warned their employer that they are united and will succeed in their demands… The United Steelworkers marched to the Campbell River offices of Western Forest Products… The company owns a controlling 55 per cent share of La-kwa sa muqw Forestry (LKSM). On Oct. 20, the union filed a common-employer application with the Labour Relations Board. “…we’re challenging the fact that LKSM is actually a separate company. …We believe our members deserve the same collective agreement that all WFP members have,” said Brian Butler, president of United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 …“What this issue is really about is the union’s demand that it wants all contractors, new contractors, working for us, including First Nation contractors, to be mandatorily certified with the union,” said Greg DeMille, Operations Manager of La-kwa sa muqw Forestry.
Vancouver, BC – Canfor Corporation and Canfor Pulp Products Inc. announced today that they have entered into an arrangement agreement pursuant to which Canfor Corp will acquire all of Canfor Pulp’s issued and outstanding common shares not already owned by Canfor Corp and its affiliates pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act. Under the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, the shareholders of Canfor Pulp, other than Canfor Corp and its affiliates, will have the option to receive, for each Canfor Pulp Share held: 0.0425 of a common share of Canfor Corp, or $0.50 in cash. ….Canfor Corp currently owns approximately 54.8% of the issued and outstanding Canfor Pulp Shares. The $0.50 per Canfor Pulp Share represents a premium of 25% to Canfor Pulp’s closing share price on December 2, 2025, on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a premium of 38% based on the 10-day volume-weighted average share price of Canfor Pulp as of December 2, 2025, on the TSX.
When Prime Minister Mark Carney toured Intelligent City’s advanced manufacturing facility in Delta, B.C. this spring, it was more than just another campaign stop. It signalled that prefabricated and modular construction has moved from the margins to the mainstream of Canada’s housing conversation. That recognition is overdue. If we are serious about tackling Canada’s housing affordability crisis by delivering more homes at scale, governments need to stop paying lip service to the huge potential of off- site construction and start putting it into policy and practice. …First, governments should publish a multi-year prefabricated housing procurement roadmap. Off-site manufacturing depends on predictable, portfolio-scale demand. A provincial roadmap in British Columbia, for example, that consolidates housing needs across ministries, Crown agencies, and municipalities would give factories the confidence to invest in automation, skilled labour, and supply chains.
I have great sympathy for mill workers in Crofton and Chemainus and the other 43 mills in towns throughout B.C. that have closed because there is “insufficient viable fibre supply.” This statement is smoke to hide the fact that the companies, with the complicity of the province, have over-harvested the forest since at least the 1970s. Second-growth trees are not as voluminous as virgin timber. Second-growth is harvested in a last gasp to get as much profit from the woods before shuttering mills due to “insufficient viable fibre supply”. The forest sector has made high profits and paid tariffs and softwood lumber duties since the 1980s, and now that the merchantable timber is gone, the blame is being transferred. …This situation even has a name — “The Fall Down Effect” — and has been predicted since the 1970s. …Timber processing will have to adapt to less volume and evolve toward greater value added.
These letters are all in today’s Victoria Times Colonist “Letters” section:
Four people were arrested, one for the second time, at an old growth logging protest encampment in Upper Walbran, according to RCMP. On Sept. 12, a judge granted an injunction to Tsawak-qin Forestry, which is co-owned by Western Forest Products and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations. RCMP have been enforcing the injunction, going into the forest for the third time. On Dec. 8, RCMP says four men were arrested for allegedly breaching the injunction. One is being held for breaching release conditions from his arrest on Nov. 25. One person was arrested for criminal obstruction of police for allegedly resisting arrest. RCMP says when officers arrived on Dec. 8, they found “physical structures” had been set up on the only bridge leading to a work site where the employees needed access. …Solène Tessier said “Why would the Eby keep clearcutting ancient forests instead of protecting the communities that rely on this dying industry?”
PRINCE GEORGE – Conservation North is calling out Premier David Eby for what they see as inconsistencies in his stance on old-growth logging. They highlight his opposition to logging old-growth forests to keep a Vancouver Island pulp mill running, while remaining quiet about the ongoing old-growth logging happening in the northern regions. …Conservation North argues that in central BC, nearly all the wood supplied to pulp and pellet mills still comes from primary forests, including old-growth areas. …The provincial government said “The interior of B.C. is home to a vast network of lumber sawmills, specialty wood manufacturing facilities, and pulp, paper, and pellet plants. This interconnected sector uses every part of the tree. …The pulp and paper sector is integral to this supply chain, buying lumber sawmill residuals, like sawdust, shavings, and chips, and harvest residuals like branches and bark. …The pulp and paper sector has also been leading the way in using wildfire salvaged wood.
British Columbia’s logging agency has changed a policy that conserved remnant old-growth forest in the province’s northwest, with a government briefing note showing a plan to open those areas for harvesting has been approved. The note, obtained by The Canadian Press and written by a BC Timber Sales manager in the Babine region, acknowledged the shift “may invoke scrutiny” from conservationist environmental groups. It says First Nations in the Bulkley, Morice and Lakes timber supply areas do not support old-growth logging deferrals recommended by a provincially appointed panel in 2021,and continuing to conserve remnant stands “does not demonstrate respect of the First Nations’ responses” to that process. …Independent ecologist Rachel Holt says the briefing note demonstrates a lack of understanding within BC Timber Sales about “the importance of … these irrecoverable ecological values.” But the crisis in B.C.’s forests is not just ecological.
NOOTKA SOUND, BC — Optimism for the future of Chinook salmon is swimming up Muchalat River near the town of Gold River, BC in Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations (MMFN) territory. Kent O’Neill, of the Nootka Sound Watershed Society (NSWS), says he observed hundreds of fish using a newly restored gravel spawning pad this fall. …Navigating a storm of challenges from historical logging practices to droughty summers, Chinook salmon in the region were assessed as Threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2020. To revive local Chinook salmon stocks, a collective effort led by NSWS, Ecofish Research, a Trinity Consultants Canada team, MMFN and the Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) was hatched. …Western Forest Products (WFP) also played a major role by providing the gravel and access to the forest service roads. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this project without WFP,” said O’Neill.
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The B.C. Ministry of Forests is encouraged that the Government of Canada has taken a huge step to amp up aerial firefighting capacity. Anthony Housefather, parliamentary secretary to Eleanor Olszewski, federal minister of emergency management and community resilience and minister responsible for Prairies economic development, recently highlighted a new multi-million-dollar investment of over $257.6 million for four years to Natural Resources Canada. The funds will be used to lease firefighting aircrafts, which can include waterbombers or other aircrafts to deliver water or fire retardant drops in hard-to-reach areas. …The Ministry of Forests will be hosting a 
Joshua Wright says a yellow cedar tree he photographed last year was the largest he’d ever seen in a decade of hiking around Vancouver Island. …Wright measured the cedar’s diameter at 2.79 metres, a size that should have ensured protection for the tree, along with a one-hectare buffer under provincial law. But when he returned to the area south of Gold River in June, Wright says the tree had been felled as part of a logging operation approved by the province. …the area where Wright documented the yellow cedar overlaps significantly with a category of old-growth representing the largest trees left standing. …Yet the deferrals required support from First Nations to go ahead, and at the time, there was no significant funding to help communities offset foregone revenues. …the yellow cedar was felled in an area where Matchlee Ltd. Partnership, majority owned by Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, holds a non-renewable forest licence.
The Province has released the 2025 Climate Change Accountability Report, reaffirming its commitment to climate action and affordability while highlighting progress in cutting emissions and advancing clean energy throughout B.C. The report shows that CleanBC is working. British Columbia is making progress in many areas… In spring 2025, the 2024 Climate Change Accountability Report indicated that B.C. was not on track to meet its 2030 emissions targets. The recently released CleanBC review provides independent advice to strengthen the climate plan and keep delivering results. Government is reviewing the recommendations to guide the next phase of action, with a focus on expanding clean energy, supporting cleaner industry and making low-carbon choices more accessible for people and communities.