Region Archives: Canada West

Members of the two largest unions in the forestry sector, Unifor and the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), met this week in Vancouver to develop a coordinated plan for collective bargaining with pulp and paper employers in Western Canada. “We are stronger when we fight together,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “The forestry sector is facing a broad range of issues that the workers are committed to addressing to sustain these good union jobs. We look forward to this next round of collective bargaining with our friends at the PPWC beside us.” Unifor and PPWC have long been successful with pattern bargaining in maintaining common pension, wage, and benefit language in the collective agreements for members of both unions. The two unions formalized the coordinated approach to bargaining with common employers by creating the Joint Pulp and Paper Caucus in 2015.

Frustrations are growing monthly with the BC government’s continuing lack of action on the provincial forestry file. The issues are numerous, growing and urgent. The focus for several of them surround basic subjects like wood fibre availability, the high costs of operating and forest land use planning and priorities. But the government’s head-in-the-sand lack of response is unlikely to change any time soon. …Meanwhile, B.C.s forestry dilemma deepens. Sawmill and wood processing plants continue along the all too familiar path of production curtailments and permanent closure. …“Access to economic fibre has fallen from 60 million cubic metres in 2018 to 35 million cubic metres of actual fibre in 2023, about 42% below the allowable annual cut for the year,” Linda Coady reminded the government. …This in a sector struggling to regain its stature in an increasingly competitive global environment. B.C. is one of if not the highest cost lumber producer in North America. 

Jason Morris

University of Northern British Columbia Senior Political Science Instructor Jason Morris says the return of Donald Trump as American President will likely mean a rocky road ahead for global trade as well as the economy in northern BC. Morris said unlike past Republican presidents, Trump’s protectionist ways will be bad news for BC’s battered forestry sector. “We can keep an eye on our forestry policies in BC and the North to see how that goes but with the slump in that industry, the negative impacts at the present time could be negligible should a new softwood lumber war emerge.”

Business groups say the work stoppage at BC ports is the latest in a run of supply chain disruptions affecting Canadian companies and the country’s economy. Employers at most of the province’s ports locked out their workers November 4 in a dispute involving roughly 700 unionized foremen. The workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 have been without a contract since March 2023. “It’s been absolutely brutal. I mean, the timing of this is just really challenging,” said Pascal Chan, senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. …Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson said the shutdown will disrupt $800 million in goods every day, warning it could put upward pressure on inflation. …Despite the importance of Canada’s ports, Fraser Johnson, a professor at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario said the rail disruption posed a more imminent threat.

Rob Schuetz

With North American lumber prices below break-even costs for many sawmills in Canada and the U.S., plus ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, recessionary conditions in China and declining timber supplies around the world, the global outlook for the forestry industry is not particularly rosy. In British Columbia, once North America’s forest-sector powerhouse, it seems downright dismal. And low lumber prices—a result of inflation and high interest rates squelching North American homebuilding—are only one of a myriad of challenges facing the industry. …A shrinking timber supply has turned B.C. into a high-cost jurisdiction. …In short, B.C. has an allowable annual cut that is increasingly not allowed to be cut. …Since the BC NDP came to power in 2017, the percentage of the AAC that is actually cut has fallen below 50 per cent, Rob Schuetz, president of Industrial Forest Services, said. …Even if lumber prices recover, Schuetz suggested B.C. producers will be in no position to capitalize on them.

A second-term David Eby BC NDP government is “marginally better” than the alternative that appeared to be in the cards on election night, business leaders said last week. …In an open letter to the new government, seven business associations… urged the new government to take B.C.’s flagging economic health seriously, and get its fiscal house in order. …At last week’s Global Wood Summit, Rob Schuetz, president of Industrial Forestry Services, said 16 sawmills, three pulp mills and four paper mills have been shut down in B.C. since 2020. He gave a laundry list of NDP government policies that have reduced access to timber and increased costs and bureaucracy. …Don McGregor, VP for Western Forest Products, summed up a sentiment that may be shared by the wider resource business community. “If it sticks, the NDP have a majority and they don’t need the Green Party,” he said. “I would take that as a positive.”

Michael Armstrong

Vancouver, B.C. – Michael Armstrong, Vice President & Chief Forester of the BC Council of Forest Industries, issued a statement regarding the closure of B.C. ports: “With the disruptions to operations at West Coast ports, the BC Council of Forest Industries urges all parties – employers, unions, and both provincial and federal governments – to urgently collaborate on a swift resolution. These ports are an essential channel for British Columbia’s forestry sector … playing an indispensable role in global supply chains. With over $11 billion in exports in 2023, forest products account for nearly one-quarter of the province’s merchandise exports. Each day of disruption compounds delays, impacts business continuity and the livelihoods of workers and communities that depend on forestry.” …“Ensuring that B.C.’s exports reach customers promptly is essential for the health of the province’s economy. We urge swift action from all stakeholders to mitigate the impacts a prolonged disruption could have on jobs, local economies, and our sector’s stability.”

The Port of Prince Rupert is experiencing disruptions following the issuing of a 72-hour strike notice by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 (ILWU Local 514) and the subsequent 72-hour lockout notice issued by the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA). The Prince Rupert Port Authority encourages both groups to reach an agreement rapidly. Canada’s west coast trade … depends on quickly reaching a resolution that keeps goods moving through its ports. The Port of Prince Rupert has built a global reputation as a reliable North American port and a strategic gateway for trade. Maintaining the trust and confidence of shippers is critical to our competitive advantage. Two out of seven terminals at the Port of Prince Rupert will be directly impacted – Fairview Container Terminal operated by DP World and Westview Wood Pellet Terminal operated by Drax Group. 

A lockout of longshoremen could affect Vancouver Island ports serving forestry operations and taking delivery of cargo from container ships, including new vehicles arriving at the Nanaimo port, says the B.C. Maritime Employers Association. As of Monday, about 20 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 were affected by the lockout in Nanaimo and at Duke Point, along with about 70 in Prince Rupert and hundreds more in Metro Vancouver, the union said. Ian Marr, president and chief executive of the Port of Nanaimo, which has a large vehicle processing centre, said pickets are up at the port’s downtown location and at Duke Point. The Seaspan Garibaldi is waiting at the downtown port and another vessel that arrived to pick up logs is also there, he said. “It did load some logs in the last few days but hasn’t completed [the work].” 

PRINCE RUPERT, BC — Disruptions in operations at Prince Rupert’s port began at 8 a.m. on Nov. 4 and is now fully underway as employers have now locked out 75 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514. The situation arose after the union issued a 72-hour strike notice last week. …Two of the seven terminals at the Port of Prince Rupert are directly affected: Fairview Container Terminal, operated by D.P. World, and Westview Wood Pellet Terminal, operated by the Drax Group. …The Westview terminal supplies biofuel energy to international markets and has handled 917,763 tonnes of wood pellets in foreign cargo from January to September 2024. …Both terminals are economically significant as a North American trade gateway to Asian and European markets. Bridgitte Anderson, CEO and president of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, estimated that a potential lockout could cost Canada $800 million daily.

On October 30, at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, BC, four lumberman — Mitchell Preger, Gregg Riley, Charles Delatorre and Ashley Boeckholt — talked about the complexities of lumber supply and demand. As the lunch keynote for the final day of the Global Wood Summit, “The Lumber Word” podcast team engaged with conference delegates, taking questions via Pigeon Hole while sharing their real-time trading experience in lumber and futures. Hosted by seasoned industry trading veterans this podcast delves deep into the complexities of the lumber supply and demand balance in the physical lumber market. “The Lumber Word” isn’t just for professionals in the industry; it’s for homebuilders and multi-family builders seeking guidance when making budgeting and project purchase decisions. Investors and venture capitalists with an eye on the lumber industry also benefit from the podcast’s grassroots conversations. Listen to the Global Wood Summit edition of the podcast on Spotify and Apple.

Employers have locked out more than 700 unionized workers in the latest development in a labour dispute that the union says will shut down all ports in British Columbia until further notice. The BC Maritime Employers Association said Monday that its “difficult decision” to impose the lockout came after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 commenced “industry-wide strike activity” at employers’ terminals. The B.C. Maritime Employers Association said its plan to lock out workers was meant to “facilitate a safe and orderly wind-down of operations” in light of “escalating and unpredictable strike action.” Last week, it said the move was being done “defensively” after International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 issued a 72-hour strike notice for job action, which was due to start at 8 a.m. PT. …Bridgitte Anderson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said she’s very concerned, adding that $800 million in trade flows through West Coast ports every day.

Additional coverage in Reuters, by Ed White: Employers at Canada’s Port of Vancouver to lock out workers as deadline passes

Jonathan Blacker & Greg Petersen

PRINCE GEORGE, BC — Last year, Prince George Pulp and Paper, shut its pulp machines down permanently. To keep its last paper machine running, a small silver pipe held aloft by scaffolding appeared, linking it like an umbilical cord with its next-door twin. Both mills used to turn wood chips into a slurry of pulp and chemicals, but only the older of the two made paper. …Greg Petersen became president of Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 9 — the Prince George arm of one of the biggest forestry unions in the province. Jonathan Blacker, Local 603 president for Unifor, another forestry union in B.C., has sat in Petersen’s office. B.C.’s forest unions have historically tended to feud. But Blacker and Petersen wave this off as someone else’s battle. …And anyway, uncommon times have led to new alliances. …This sudden collapse wasn’t inevitable, Petersen and Blacker say.

Election campaign promises and surging debt could further weaken BC’s economy. That’s according to business groups urging provincial party leaders to prioritize the state of an economy that’s lagging behind as various sectors face deteriorating performance and job losses. …“Given parliamentary conventions, including the need for a Speaker [of the House], greater collaboration may be required to ensure the effective operation of the legislature.” …“B.C. has seen effectively no growth in private sector employment between 2019 and 2023,” read the letter. “This is unprecedented and unsustainable.” …Other signatories to the letter include the Mining Association of BC… and the BC Council of Forest Industries. ….The letter also took aim at the provincial budget, the most recent of which is projecting a $7.9-billion operating deficit for 2024-25 – the largest in B.C. history. …The business groups are asking the next government to prioritize economic health.

See the original letter on the BC Chamber of Commerce site: Business Association Letter to Leaders

B.C.’s economy is unlikely to be hit too badly by the increasingly sour relationship Canada has with the Indian government. The deterioration of relations is, however, an emotional gut-punch for many in the province’s Indo-Canadian community. Some B.C. business owners rely on trade with India, with their companies exporting products such as lumber and other products to resell. …B.C.-origin exports to India totalled $1.406 billion in 2023, down 10.6% from the year before. The Canadian and Indian governments for more than a decade had been negotiating a free-trade agreement to help both economies. …“We were getting nowhere on the free-trade agreement,” Sundher Group CEO Tom Sundher said. …Sundher’s Surrey-based company sells softwood lumber to Indian customers for furniture and frames for windows and doors and also acts as an agent in helping Weyerhaeuser. None of Sundher’s clients have changed their orders because of diplomatic tensions, he stressed.

As the elected Director for the United Steelworkers union (USW) in Western Canada, I was truly hoping for an NDP majority government. The BC NDP was our choice, as the party’s positions better reflect issues important to working families: strong worker rights – including the right to freely join a union; safe and healthy workplaces; affordable housing; access to health care; and commitment to public education in our communities. It was also clear to me that this past election was NOT fought over who had the best plan for B.C.’s mining and forest sectors. I believe that would have been a much less divisive debate, given that David Eby’s NDP and John Rustad’s Conservatives put forward platforms that tried to appeal to these two important sectors. …So, it’s not surprising that there is not much political divide on supporting and building a vibrant resource sector in British Columbia.

David Eby

Whoever forms BC’s next government can expect to face fiscal challenges and troubling macroeconomic headwinds that have blown the provincial economy into the shoals. …TD Economics notes that B.C. is expected to be Canada’s economic “laggard” in 2024. B.C. business economists say Premier Eby has been growing government, not the economy, and has been doing it on borrowed money. With tepid GDP growth, unemployment hitting six per cent in September, a spike in business bankruptcies, a high cost of living, lower commodity prices for major B.C. exports and swelling government debt, B.C.’s economy appears increasingly anemic. …Lower commodity prices, notably lumber and natural gas, have left BC with less tax and royalty revenues, adding strain to B.C.’s finances. …Lower lumber prices, American softwood lumber duties, a shrinking timber supply and high operating costs have devastated a cornerstone industry, which has been hit with permanent sawmill and pulp mill closures in the past few years.

Uncertainty has reigned supreme in British Columbia after the Oct. 19 provincial election. No clear winner was left, and it looked likely that there would be an NDP government backed by the Green Party’s two remaining MLAs. For B.C.’s natural resource sector, this is the worst possible result. An NDP minority government supported by the Greens will bring a significant ideological shift to the government’s approach to the natural resource sector. …BC’s forestry industry is already plagued by seemingly non-stop mill closures and new regulatory restrictions, and a Green-aligned government will offer little hope of relief. The latest figures paint a grim picture for jobs and new opportunities. Critics have charged that the BC NDP’s forestry policies, such as deferring old-growth logging and implementing far more stringent regulations, accelerated the industry’s decline. The Conservatives had promised relief, but a Green-backed government is likely to maintain the squeeze.