President-elect Donald Trump has justified his threat of 25% tariffs on Canada by pointing to the US trade deficit. Top Canadian economists have a response to that: it’s all because your country wants cheap oil. The US is on track to end 2024 with the largest overall trade deficit in its history. Its imbalance with Canada is about $60 billion. …Trump has repeatedly claimed the deficit is a subsidy to the Canadian economy, and said Tuesday the US doesn’t need anything from Canada. Import and export data, however, paint a different picture. Among the US’s top partners, its trade with Canada is the most equally balanced — because Canada buys $85 million from the US for every $100 million it exports. When stripping out oil and gas, the US actually has a significant trade surplus with Canada — its biggest energy supplier and a key buyer of American products from food to machinery.
Donald Trump is threatening to use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st American state. While his comments may be reckless, they are in part due to Canada’s over-reliance on the US market in terms of trade. The benefits of international trade are undoubtedly positive. It’s well-established that when countries can produce a product or service more cheaply than others, giving them what’s known as a “comparative advantage,” all other nations engaged will gain from that trade. …But the key challenge Canadian policymakers face is an over-reliance on the US as Canada’s primary market, with 75% of all Canadian exports headed south. …Canada can no longer take easy access to the U.S. market for granted. …Bringing down barriers to trade across Canadian provinces would create conditions that could enable Canadian companies to be more competitive internationally, and beyond the U.S. market in particular.
New Westminster, BC — The Canadian Mill Services Association (CMSA) is announcing that it has completed a purchase agreement with the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) to acquire the COFI Quality Control (QC) operations and to merge them into CMSA. This has involved the transfer of the rights and trademarks to use the COFI grade stamps, and the Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ (ILMA) grade stamps as well as the transfer of the quality control employees from COFI to CMSA. As of December 31, 2024 COFI ceases to offer QC services and the former COFI customers who were using these services are encouraged to join CMSA as active Members. With completion of the merger, CMSA will now provide all the necessary Quality Control Services including Educational Training and Support to its active members. CMSA shall continue to be members of the NLGA, CLSAB and ALSC and will continue to represent its members with the Canadian Wood Council.
A potential hike in tariffs imposed on Canadian exports to the US as early as January will highlight developments that could define first-quarter trends in the softwood lumber market. …Many traders have expressed a perception that the US economy will prosper in 2025 with a more business friendly administration in the White House. However, if the tariffs are imposed, they could significantly alter the flow of softwood lumber and panels from Canada to the US. Some Canadian producers have already noted that they will withdraw from the US market rather than deal with the rising costs. If returns on shipments to the US plunge, many Canadian mills could funnel a larger percentage of production offshore, especially to Pacific Rim destinations. …Southern Pine traders hope the first quarter sets the stage for a rebound after a difficult year in 2024. Production outpaced demand for most of the year, sustaining steady downward pressure on prices.
If president-elect Donald Trump… follows through with his tariff threat, it could have economic consequences for the U.S. lumber supply chain, according to Rajan Parajuli at NC State. …US. companies would likely attempt to recoup tariff-related losses by raising the price of Canadian softwood lumber, which would potentially impact the housing market by making building materials more expensive. …Parajuli highlighted the 2006 U.S.–Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement as an example of how tariffs can impact the supply chain. …Under the agreement, which was active until 2015, U.S. lumber producers gained $1.6 billion and U.S. consumers lost $2.3 billion as softwood lumber imports from Canada declined by 7.78% in the months when export taxes took effect. “U.S. consumers not only paid producers’ gains, but also the losses that resulted from the export taxes,” Parajuli said. In the long term, the U.S. would need to work with Canada to negotiate a new softwood lumber agreement, according to Parajuli. Germany, Sweden and other trade partners simply don’t have the inventory or capacity to displace Canada in lumber exports.
It would be easy to quote the price per square foot for concrete home construction vis-à-vis the price per square foot for the same size wooden house. But direct comparisons like that fail to capture the complexity and nuance of these choices. That is because the building and maintenance costs are woven together with the sustainability, durability and longevity of the materials involved in the construction process. …In this article, we will explore these respective approaches, with special attention to cost, sustainability, maintenance, durability and time to build. The U.S. Department of Housing calculates that for the construction of a 2,500-square-foot house, the price difference between concrete and wood would be around $7,000. …At first glance, timber frame construction should easily be the most sustainable. After all, we are dealing with a natural, renewable product. However, there are several parts to the comparative puzzle.
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The Kaska Dena people, who for thousands of years have lived on a vast swath of intact wilderness in northern B.C. on the Yukon border… They want to ensure it remains undeveloped… So the Kaska have come up with a plan for the province to protect an area, called the Dene K’éh Kusān — 40,000 square kilometres, an area larger than Vancouver Island, of land and water. …It would also boost B.C.’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of water by 2030, say conservation experts. …With only five years to go, and just about 16 per cent of land protected in B.C. so far, the province must double its efforts if it intends to reach those ambitious targets…Randene Neill, B.C.’s minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said that she’s aware that some areas reported as conservation measures aren’t meeting their originally intended objectives. 
…British Columbia’s forests are … a foundation of the province’s identity and a bedrock of its economy. Both past and present, the industry has been one of the province’s largest employers, providing tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, particularly in rural and Indigenous communities where opportunities can be scarce. These jobs are vital for maintaining economic stability in smaller towns, where forestry often serves as the main driver of local economies. …By managing forests, BC can enhance their role as carbon sinks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate-driven concerns such as wildfires. …Concurrently, BC’s forestry practices need to keep pace with evolving environmental and social expectations. …Global markets and decision-makers are increasingly demanding environmentally responsible products and wood clearly delivers those needs. However, two things need to happen. First, a clear, cohesive strategy is needed to ensure we do not fall behind international competitors. Secondly, you actually have to cut a tree down.
Human recreation on mountain trails is displacing grizzly bears and wolves from their natural habitats, even when the trails are hundreds of metres away, according to a new study from the University of Alberta. The research underscores the need for more effective planning to ensure that recreationists and wildlife can coexist, particularly in the busy Bow River Valley, which has long served as a natural corridor connecting the prairies to the Continental Divide… Though trails that never receive any use from humans have little to no effect on wildlife, only half of grizzlies studied would venture within 300 metres of trails with the highest human use. This effect was more pronounced in wary wolves, whose radius of comfort extended to 600 metres from the busiest trails. “We initially thought bears might use hiking trails as efficient routes when humans weren’t around, but they actually avoid these areas altogether,” says the author.
Forests may be more resilient to climate change than previously thought. A team of international researchers have found that increased inputs from plant roots can keep carbon levels in soil stable even as temperatures and nitrogen deposits in the atmosphere rise. The collaborative research project, 
An American company that controls some large patches of forest northwest of Thunder Bay is considering the potential sale of its timberlands for use as a carbon offset initiative… Wagner Forest Management – based in New Hampshire – owns 195,000 hectares of forest in eight former Abitibi-Consolidated freehold blocks located roughly between the Dog Lake area, Graham and Sioux Lookout. It purchased the blocks from Abitibi in 2005 in a bidding process in which the Ontario government also participated. Last July the company extended an invitation to investors interested in the potential development of its holdings as “one of the largest nature-based carbon removal projects in the Voluntary Carbon Market.”.. Wagner’s forest management practices are currently certified through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
At its November 2024 meeting, WorkSafeBC’s 
Alberta will join other Canadian provinces helping battle raging wildfires in Los Angeles, the largest in the California city’s history. The province announced Thursday it’s preparing to deploy an incident command team and additional wildfire-fighting resources to support California, including water bombers and night-vision helicopters. Thousands of firefighters have been battling roaring flames that have left neighbourhoods in ruin and burned thousands of structures, while killing at least five people. “Good neighbours are always there for each other in times of need, and we will assist our American friends in any way they need during this crisis,” Premier Danielle Smith wrote on X. …In fighting the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles water system “buckled” under the demand, as some hydrants ran dry, hindering firefighting efforts. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 2,000 structures have burned and at least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders due to the wildfires.
