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.
The 
Canada and the European Union are laying out concrete steps to strengthen ties around digital security, critical resources and a would-be fleet of Canadian water bombers, according to a draft joint statement ahead of a major summit at month’s end. The document states that Ottawa and Brussels aim to let Canadian companies bid on cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure contracts typically reserved for European companies in another push away from dependence on the United States. Dubbed an “alliance for the future,” the renewed partnership also launches plans for Canada to join in Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system and wraps up a deal to facilitate European investment in Canadian critical minerals. It further announces the joint purchase of 50 Canadian-made De Havilland water bombers it claims will be ready for use in fighting wildfires in 2030. …The challenge lies in fending off backlash from the White House, said professor Patrick Leblond. 
WASHINGTON — The NAFTA Secretariat has published formal notice of an October 5, 2026, binational panel decision concerning countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber products. The panel affirmed the US Department of Commerce’s Second Redetermination on Remand in the matter of Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination. The decision relates to a challenge filed under NAFTA’s Article 1904 dispute settlement mechanism, which provides for binational panel review of trade remedy determinations.
The United Steelworkers union (USW) welcomes the BC NDP’s commitments to support forestry workers and communities through new investments to keep mills operating, protect jobs and strengthen BC’s forestry sector. The union says the plan is a positive step toward addressing the challenges facing the industry. The BC NDP’s proposed $120-million Forestry Jobs Protection Fund, investments in mill modernization, improved access to fibre and efforts to expand international markets are welcome commitments for an industry hit hard by decades of unfair US tariffs, mill closures and job losses. …The USW is also calling on all candidates in the BC election to support a Working Forest strategy that balances conservation, reconciliation and good jobs. This includes securing a reliable timber supply for BC mills, directly tying logging rights to keeping mills operating and workers employed, and establishing a Forestry Jobs Protection Commissioner to help prevent further mill closures.
A new manufacturing operation coming to Chemainus is expected to create 30 jobs by early 2027, with plans to grow to 70 positions over the next three years. Japan-based Shinohara Nexus Group will open a production facility on a portion of the Chemainus sawmill site, leased from Western Forest Products. North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said he met with Shinohara Group’s senior management team, including the company’s president and CEO, to discuss the project. The investment was also discussed with North Cowichan council members by B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar during the Union of BC Municipalities convention. According to Douglas, the operation will be housed in two existing storage buildings at the site. Western Forest Products has told the United Steelworkers the new operation will not impact the Chemainus sawmill’s ability to restart. Shinohara has operated manufacturing facilities producing pre-cut lumber for approximately 4,000 residential, commercial and institutional buildings each year.
David Eby initially framed this election as being about who’s the best choice to fight the threat posed by Donald Trump. …Pshaw, Eby’s critics say. …Whether Eby is using Trump as a strawman, and whether the New Democrats are the ones to counter the president and his tariffs, is up for debate. What’s not in dispute, though, is those tariffs hit the forest sector hard. In the outer reaches of ridings like North Island and Mid Island-Pacific Rim — places more wild and rugged than tamed, uncalloused Victoria — they’ll tell you the tariffs are just one more challenge to an already struggling industry. People in forestry also fret about access to fibre, the depletion of valuable Douglas fir, wildfires, regulatory burden, transportation costs and, yes, cross-border wrangling. …Eby said B.C. would fight tariffs by adding $90 million to existing government programs to attract investment and jobs to rural areas.
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear an appeal involving CN Rail and Alberta Pacific Forest Industries that could clarify the courts’ authority to review decisions of the Canadian Transportation Agency. The case centres on whether factual findings by the agency can be challenged through judicial review, despite statutory limits on appeals.
CLINTON, Ontario
Western red cedar, resawn and kiln-dried in New Zealand and on its way to American lumberyards, is now before the US Court of International Trade, with a New Hampshire distributor challenging a customs finding that it evaded the duties charged on Canadian softwood. That is 
Coastal Specialty Forest Products has 
The US hardwood industry is still working through a deep capacity contraction. At the 2026 National Hardwood Lumber Association convention, Hardwood Review said it had identified 151 publicly announced sawmill and yard closures since the start of 2023, while other presentations highlighted a larger role for log exports and NHLA’s longer-term efforts to develop new structural and value-added markets for hardwoods. Highlights include:
Walmart has settled its case over more than US$80 million in claims against Structurlam, the Canadian mass timber manufacturer it hired to supply its new head office. That is according to the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which approved the settlement with the trust representing Structurlam’s creditors in July and closed the case in August. … According to the trust, Walmart first brought forward deadlines for one building in July 2022, then redesigned six of the eight main buildings a month later. The trust said Walmart also stopped paying for accepted timber and refused further deliveries over a glulam fault … The retailer ended the contract in January 2023, saying Structurlam had failed to deliver fully and on time and had not fixed the problems within the time allowed. … No objections to the settlement were lodged before the court approved it.
ROSENTHAL, Germany —During the restart process following a four-week maintenance shutdown, the plant received a report on October 1, 2026, regarding discoloration in the vicinity of the wastewater discharge point. As a precautionary measure to rule out any adverse effects on the environment and water bodies, the company immediately halted the restart process and the wastewater discharge, retaining the wastewater in the plant’s own buffer basins. The Saale-Orla District Office subsequently issued a temporary swimming ban for the southern section of the Bleiloch Reservoir as a precaution. Since the wastewater discharge was suspended on Thursday, the company has been in constant direct communication with the relevant authorities. On this basis, discharge from the plant’s own wastewater treatment facility into the Saale River was gradually resumed on October 3 in close coordination with the relevant environmental authorities. At the same time, preparations are underway to resume pulp production. [END]
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. 
Tariffs and the trade war with Canada are hurting United States businesses, according to the latest U.S. Federal Reserve‘s Beige Book released. “Most of the trade tensions are mentioned in terms of the negative effect on manufacturing,” Robert Embree said of the U.S. economic survey. “We see that in New York. We see that in Boston. We see that in Minneapolis. They’re all reporting adverse effects from tariffs or trade conflicts with Canada.” Issues arising from damaged cross-border trade with Canada came up in reports from several Fed banks, including those in New York, Minneapolis, Boston and San Francisco. For example, “a number of manufacturing contacts reported that tariffs were raising input costs, disrupting supply chains and damaging cross-border trade, particularly with Canada,” the Federal Reserve of New York’s portion of the report said. As a result, businesses said they were delaying capital spending and their planning had become more complex.
U.S. tariffs could leave more Canadian lumber available for domestic construction, potentially supporting nearly 4,000 additional homes a year and lowering building costs, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. CMHC 
Lumber futures rose to $540 per thousand board feet, their highest level in nearly a month, as Hurricane Isaias threatened supplies across key producing regions. The storm swept through the US Gulf Coast, causing major power outages in Alabama and Mississippi, both significant lumber-producing states, raising concerns over supply disruptions and pressuring prices. Lumber supplies were already constrained by escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada. …However, gains remain tempered by weakness in the US housing market. Mortgage rates have climbed to 7.4%, their highest in nearly three years, raising borrowing costs for homebuyers and weighing on housing demand.
The Canadian economy proved more resilient than feared earlier this year. Now, while many hope domestic infrastructure and investment projects will help the economy grow and boost its export diversification, the country is likely facing a period of slower growth in the short term. That’s why Deloitte Canada recently raised its forecast for this year but cut next year’s growth forecast from 2 to 1.6 per cent, a figure that accounts for Canada’s retaliatory tariffs but not the Sept. 15 expansion or the Sept. 29 import bans. To better understand where the economy has proven most resilient, and where future challenges lie, National Post reached out to Deloitte Canada’s Chief Economist Dawn Desjardins for some insights. ….What has kept Canada’s economy afloat so far, and why do you expect that resilience to weaken? …Dawn Desjardins: But for 2027, all the events of recent weeks and months certainly suggest that it’s having an impact on Canadian business confidence, Canadian consumer confidence. [A National Post subscription may be required for full access to this story]
Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September, according to Statistics Canada, marking a second straight month of losses. The unemployment rate ticked up by 0.1 percentage points to 6.5 per cent, which is where it stood at the start of 2026. Economists polled ahead of the release had predicted employers added 9,200 positions in September. The decline follows 42,000 job losses in August, which came as a surprise to economists and snapped a hot streak for the labour market. …Statistics Canada says job losses were split between full- and part-time work and were concentrated in the public sector. The decline was concentrated in youth aged 15 to 24, who accounted for 48,000 job losses, according to the data agency. But the pool of young workers also shrank in September, leaving the unemployment rate for that group relatively unchanged at 13 per cent.
In August, the U.S. trade deficit hit a seasonally adjusted $106 billion, the highest total since President Trump announced his sweeping tariff regime. Since those tariffs, the trade deficit has stayed around normal levels. …President Trump imposed the tariffs, in his own words, to close a trade deficit which he deemed a “national emergency.” …All of this was complete nonsense. …First, the nation does not lose money when it imports more goods and services than it exports. …Second, the nation isn’t even sending more dollars abroad than it receives when you zoom out beyond mere imports and exports. Foreigners typically want to do something more with the dollars they get. So virtually every dollar sent abroad returns to America in one form or another. Through our trade deficit, we receive many more tangible goods of value than we have to give up in return because the U.S. economy is exceptionally attractive.
U.S. kitchen cabinet sales fell 4.3% in August 2026 from a year earlier to $177.6 million, according to the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA), whose Trend of Business report covers 47 participating manufacturers. Custom cabinet sales rose 12.2% to $54.0 million, semi-custom sales fell 9.0% to $95.0 million and stock sales fell 13.6% to $28.6 million. The number of cabinets shipped fell 11.4% to 437,697. In January–August, participants’ sales fell 6.3% to $1.41 billion. Custom sales fell 0.1% to $393.0 million, semi-custom fell 8.5% to $792.0 million and stock fell 8.3% to $228.7 million. Cabinet quantity fell 9.7% to 3.63 million. KCMA estimates the overall U.S. cabinet market for 2026 at $20.9 billion in sales and 92 million cabinets. [END]
Capacity utilization at U.S. sawmills and wood preservation plants rose to 76.5% in the second quarter from 70.8% in the previous quarter, according to the Census Bureau. That was the highest since the second quarter of 2025, when it was 77.6%. The Federal Reserve’s industrial production index for sawmills and wood preservation averaged 108.4 in the quarter, up 4.1% from the previous quarter and up 0.7% from a year earlier. Utilization at makers of veneer, plywood and engineered wood products rose to 75.5% from 67.8% in the previous quarter (65.5% a year earlier), while at other wood product manufacturers it rose to 73.3% from 70.1% (67.9% a year earlier). The survey measures actual output as a share of full production capability, so it shows how hard plants are running rather than how much capacity exists. The estimates are subject to revision.
Mortgage rates increased again this week, with the average 30-year rate hitting 7.4 percent for the first time since November 2023, Freddie Mac reported. The average 30-year mortgage rate rose 12 basis points from last week, when it was 7.28 percent, according to the government-sponsored company. This rate has risen for seven consecutive weeks and has sat above 7 percent for three weeks straight — the first such stretch since April 2024 and May 2024. …Home loan borrowing costs have spiked amid the U.S.’s ongoing war with Iran and a global bond market sell-off, as investors flee the market over persistent inflation and elevated oil prices. The week before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 142 basis points less. The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield similarly rose following the war. …Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is trading at more than $103 per barrel as of Thursday afternoon.
In the third quarter of 2026, the NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI) posted a reading of 62, up one point compared to the previous quarter. The RMI has remained within a narrow band between 59 and 70 for the past four years. Remodeler sentiment remains the standout sector within the housing industry, when compared to its single-family and multifamily counterparts. Despite sentiment remaining stable, remodelers report that economic uncertainty is making some potential customers hesitant to move forward with projects. Labor shortages, exacerbated by immigration enforcement and competition from data center construction, are extending the time it takes to complete projects. Nevertheless, remodeling is gaining share in the overall construction market, as it is somewhat less sensitive than new construction to the current elevated interest rates. NAHB’s projection for remodeling activity will remain stable in 2026 and grow slightly in 2027, which is consistent with today’s reading.
Business registrations in Russia’s forestry and logging sector fell sharply in the first eight months of 2026 while liquidations increased, according to Rusprofile calculations reported by Kommersant. …Russia recorded 1,210 new registrations of companies and sole traders in forestry and logging during January–August 2026, down 19.9% from the corresponding period, according to calculations by business-information service Rusprofile cited by Kommersant. Over the same eight months, 1,590 liquidations were recorded, an increase of 9.6%. That left liquidations 380 above registrations. Rusprofile calculated that the number of businesses closing was 31.3% higher than the number entering the sector.
The first article in this series explored the acoustical challenges associated with mass timber construction as building codes continue to enable more ambitious timber buildings across Canada. This article builds on that, discussing the construction details and processes that can determine whether a mass timber building meets its sound isolation targets, and why each one has an outsized effect on building performance and the user experience. The question facing project teams is no longer whether mass timber buildings can achieve good acoustic performance. Several projects across North America have demonstrated this. But that success is not universal. The next challenge is understanding how that success is achieved and replicating the process across all projects. …Mass timber may have roughly one-quarter of the mass of a comparable concrete assembly. The lower mass of the material reduces resistance to sound transmission compared to a concrete structure. Controlling flanking transmission also becomes correspondingly important. 
Northwestern Ontario has an abundance of hardwood. That’s what the hosts of an inbound Scandinavian trade mission are promoting in Thunder Bay this week in an attempt to attract offshore investment and new manufacturing to the region’s forest sector. The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre will be the venue for the trade mission, Oct. 5-7, that is drawing select companies from Canada and the Nordic countries. The innovation centre, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission and the Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE) are funding and orchestrating this gathering, which will feature a predominant Swedish contingent from as many as seven companies. …CRIBE CEO Scott Jackson said they won’t be shy about drawing attention to underutilized poplar and white birch in the northwest. CRIBE laid out the opportunity and value proposition 
A viscose shirt and a roll of toilet paper are two very different products, but they have one thing in common. They’re both made from wood fibre – a commodity that is in growing demand, placing undue pressure on forests, environmentalists warn. According to Canopy… more than 300 million trees are felled every year, including from some of the world’s most biodiversity-rich forests, to make wood-based fibres for the fashion industry. …“Reducing dependency on forests and forest-based fibres just makes business sense from a resiliency perspective,” says Canopy founder Nicole Rycroft. As the devastating wildfires in Europe and North America have demonstrated, “this is a fibre basket that is literally going up in smoke”. She expects the EU’s deforestation regulation to increase competition for the wood, driving up cost. In addition, viscose production is chemically intensive, so closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also pushed up prices. [To access the full story a Reuters subscription is required]
When the US Forest Service opened 947 acres of western Colorado to commercial logging in July, officials expected at least a few companies to jump at the opportunity. Not one did. None had bid a year earlier, either. Surging fuel costs and plummeting prices for Ponderosa pine made it impossible for them to turn a profit, so they all skipped it. That isn’t just a problem for the loggers. Timber sales are an important tool for preventing catastrophic wildfires, helping to thin dense underbrush and other vegetation that builds up over decades. …Yet loggers are passing up on timber sales across federal lands because of an accelerating downturn in the industry. Demand has been cratering for some wood products, especially pulpwood used to make paper. “If we don’t have a viable economic market,” said Scott Dane of the American Loggers Council. “Without markets, there is no forest management.” [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court kicked off a new term, with the justices wrestling with an attempt by oil companies to throw out lawsuits alleging they should pay damages for the impacts of climate change. Although the case concerns a specific lawsuit the city and county of Boulder, Colorado, brought against Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy, the ultimate decision could have broad ramifications. …Boulder officials say they face increasing costs because of the impacts of climate change, including efforts to minimize risks from wildfires. …The lawsuit says Exxon and Suncor misled consumers about the impact that greenhouse gases produced by their products would have on the climate. The companies deny the allegations and warn that if the Boulder lawsuit moves forward… energy companies could face crippling damages. They also argue climate change is an international issue that cannot be the subject of litigation in state courts.
UK — When energy supplies are disrupted, governments have little choice but to move fast. …Biofuels can offer an immediate, homegrown answer. But without strong safeguards and global policy coordination, rapid expansion of mandates can encourage the clearing of more forests, create more pressure on farmland and divert crops from food markets, raising prices and leaving some communities struggling to afford to eat. Those kinds of trade-offs do not mean we have solved energy insecurity but merely shifted the cost somewhere else — often onto the people and places with the least power to absorb it. This is what makes the warning at the heart of a new paper so urgent. The report, developed through a partnership between Chatham House and the Forest Stewardship Council, estimates that policy changes introduced in response to the Mideast Gulf energy crisis could drive a 70% increase in global biofuel production by 2030 and require an additional 36 million hectares of land for feedstocks.
New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority on Oct. 1 announced it is investing in five new wood energy aggregation facilities and four projects that aim to produce torrefied biomass and wood pellets. Funding awarded to the torrefied biomass and wood pellet projects is in the form of repayable grants that will help cover costs associated with developing detailed information required for final investment decisions (FID). If brought to market, the four projects could produce more than 500,000 metric tons of wood fuel annually, spread across torrefied biomass and white wood pellets. Awards made to torrefied biomass and wood pellet projects include… five wood energy aggregation facilities to secure low-grade wood from commercial forestry alongside the private sector. According to EECA, the sites will provide a central repository for nearby forest operations to collect, store and prepare wood that would otherwise go unused or left in the forest. 
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.
