Derek Burney
The election result was a personal triumph for Prime Minister Mark Carney with generous assistance from Donald Trump. Instead of being a verdict on the dismal Liberal decade of slow growth, low productivity and investment, and declining competitiveness, it quickly became a referendum on who would be the best leader to withstand the tariff attacks and disrespectful challenges against Canada’s independence by America’s mercurial president. …The best answer would be concrete plans to stimulate economic growth and improve productivity, competitiveness and investment. …There should be no rush to negotiate with the U.S. until we clarify what its objectives are regarding Canada. The trust factor remains an open question. …US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum should be sought out as rational members of the U.S. cabinet to dialogue with, as opposed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Members of the newly formed Provincial Forest Advisory Council are tasked with providing recommendations to government on advancing forest stewardship, while supporting communities and workers that rely on forests. Under the Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord 2025, the B.C. government and BC Green caucus have established the Provincial Forest Advisory Council. The council will provide recommendations to government to ensure there are clear and measurable outcomes that support a healthy forests, healthy ecosystems and a healthy forestry sector. …The council will consult with industry partners, such as the Provincial Forestry Forum and ecological, environmental and biodiversity experts, to engage the public for feedback and honour commitments to work in partnership with First Nations. …The council brings together forestry sector leaders that have been jointly appointed by the BC NDP and Green caucuses. The council will provide an interim report this fall, with a final report expected by the end of 2025. 
Domtar appears close to making a final decision about whether to convert its newsprint mill in Gatineau, Quebec, to a containerboard mill. …Last week, Unifor concluded labor negotiations with Domtar regarding the Gatineau site, and the final contract will likely be published by month’s end, said Daniel Cloutier, Unifor Quebec director. As part of the labor arrangement, agreed not to bargain, lock out or strike for eight years — on the condition that Domtar would move forward with the mill conversion, Cloutier said. Domtar agreed to proceed with the mill conversion investment, Cloutier said, although the company has not issued a final decision. Unifor anticipates that should come by autumn, if not earlier. …”one thing that could help them to make that decision was the guarantee that they will have no conflicts at [the] Gatineau plant while they proceed with the construction of the new facility,” he said.
US Representatives Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) have introduced the “
President Trump’s deal to dramatically slash tariffs on China thrilled markets and offered a sliver of relief for businesses across the country. It also revealed an important lesson: Even Teflon Don can’t outrun economic reality. The deal in which both sides agreed to lower tariff rates by triple-digit percentages, came as anxiety mounted about a potential downturn in the US. …The agreement is an acknowledgment that a full-on economic divorce of the US and China would be too painful for both sides. …For U.S. corporations operating across borders, the de-escalation might offer some solace. But the remaining 30 percent tariff added to Chinese goods will cut heavily into profits — and be cost-prohibitive in some sectors. …One former Trump administration official said the meeting between the U.S. and China resulted from pressure on the White House from a variety of industries. …Beijing, too, was watching its economy falter.
The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities is proud to partner with the US Forest Service to support the backbone of sustainable forest management—wood products manufacturers. …Endowment staff joined colleagues from the US Forest Service to visit several facilities benefitting from the Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance funding, a component of the Wood Innovations Program. One notable stop was Shasta Green, a family-owned logging and sawmill operation in Burney, California. With support from the program, Shasta Green has been able to upgrade sawmill equipment and modernize kiln controls. …The Endowment and the Forest Service are also offering technical assistance through the Wood Manufacturing Facility Assistance Program. This initiative is designed to help existing manufacturers improve operations, remain competitive, and continue contributing to forest stewardship and community well-being.
Canada’s inflation rate eased to 1.7% in April, driven by a drop in prices after the federal government removed the consumer carbon tax, according to Statistics Canada. The slowdown came after the inflation rate hit 2.3% in March. Lower crude oil prices were also a factor in the decline, the data agency said. Despite the decline in headline inflation, core inflation measures all rose in April, some above three per cent — well above the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target rate. The central bank watches those numbers closely because they strip out volatile sectors and don’t factor in one-offs like the removal of the carbon tax. …The central bank is set to make its next interest rate decision on June 4. Porter still expects that the Bank of Canada will cut, given the outlook for weak economic growth in 2025, but said the bank might need more time to see how inflation plays out.
Tariff discussions about reducing US dependence on foreign goods became a focus for the second Trump administration. …However, the US forest products industry’s reliance on Canadian wood raises questions about eliminating Canadian wood imports entirely. This piece is the second in a two-part series by the Fastmarkets team. 
WASHINGTON, DC – Total single-family home sales are expected to close 2025 at 4.92 million units, with existing home sales accounting for 4.24 million of those units, according to the May 2025 Economic and Housing Outlook from the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. Revisions to the home sales forecast were driven in part by the ESR Group’s lower expectations for mortgage rates, which it now forecasts to end 2025 and 2026 at 6.1% and 5.8%, respectively. The latest outlook also projects real gross domestic product growing at 0.7% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026 on a Q4/Q4 basis. …We now expect the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to rise 3.5 percent Q4/Q4 in 2025, unchanged from our April forecast. Core CPI is expected to rise 3.8 percent Q4/Q4 in 2025 (down from 3.9 percent previously) and 2.6 percent in 2026 (unchanged).
Volatile lumber prices are once again rattling the U.S. housing market, squeezing builders and threatening to exacerbate an already dire affordability crisis. Softwood lumber prices in April surged 23% year-over-year, while futures rose sharply in early 2025 amid fears of increased U.S. duties and widespread sawmill closures across North America, according to the National Association of Home Builders. This has weighed heavily on major homebuilders such as Lennar, D.R. Horton and Toll Brothers, which have all seen their stocks slump this spring. …“The unpredictability of lumber prices adds serious complexity to planning and budgeting,” said Steve Martinez, of Idaho-based Tradewinds General Contracting. …Beyond homebuilding, higher lumber costs are hitting renovations, fencing and interiors. The US Forest Products annual market review found that U.S. lumber production inched up… but demand continues to outpace supply. Environmental regulations, aging forests and labor constraints compound the challenge.
The United States has officially lost its perfect credit rating. On Friday, Moody’s, for the first time in its history, downgraded U.S. government bonds from the gold star rating of “AAA” to “AA1,” the silver medal equivalent. This wasn’t a total surprise. S&P and Fitch had already lowered the U.S. rating, so this was Moody’s catching up to the crowd. But make no mistake: Moody’s didn’t just pick a random Friday in May to make this move. Moody’s wanted to send a message to Republicans in Congress: Rethink the tax bill. Or, better yet, don’t do it. …The Republicans’ bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade. …Moody’s cited concern over how big the U.S. debt already is (more than $36 trillion) and how Congress has taken almost no action to stop the annual deficits that keep adding to that tab. [to access the full story a Washington Post subscription is required]
While the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing a rebound by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of April, the report also showed a substantial pullback by building permits during the month. The Commerce Department said housing starts shot up by 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.361 million in April after plummeting by 10.1 percent to a revised rate of 1.339 million in March. However, economists had expected housing starts to surge by 3.5 percent to a rate of 1.370 million from the 1.324 million originally reported for the previous month. “Soft housing starts in April are another sign that builders are hitting the brakes this year in response to high uncertainty for costs and future demand,” writes Nationwide Senior Economist Ben Ayers. …The smaller than expected rebound by housing starts came as a sharp increase by multi-family starts was partly offset by a continued slump by single-family starts.
Builder confidence fell sharply in May on growing uncertainties stemming from elevated interest rates, tariff concerns, building material cost uncertainty and the cloudy economic outlook. However, 90% of the responses received in May were tabulated prior to the May 12 announcement that the US and China agreed to slash tariffs for 90 days to allow trade talks to continue. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 34 in May, down six points from April, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This ties the November 2023 reading and is the lowest since the index hit 31 in December 2022. …All three of the major HMI indices posted losses in May. The HMI index gauging current sales conditions fell eight points in May to a level of 37, the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months edged one-point lower to 42 while the gauge charting traffic of prospective buyers dropped two points to 23.
The Producer Price Index declined 0.5% in April, according to data released Thursday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, of the 10 key commodities in the hardware and building supply space tracked below, only two (millwork and plywood) index lower compared to a year ago. And only one (plywood) declined from March to April. The softwood lumber index increased 8.6% year-over-year. A month ago, the increase was 12.6%. …Construction input prices decreased 0.1% in April compared to the previous month. Nonresidential construction input prices increased 0.2% for the month. “Construction input prices declined in April, but that was largely due to falling energy prices,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Materials directly affected by tariffs saw sharp price increases for the month. Steel mill product prices, for instance, rose 5.9%, while copper wire and cable prices increased 5.0%.
Inflation was slightly lower than expected in April as President Trump’s tariffs just began hitting the slowing US economy, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday. The consumer price index, which measures the costs for a broad range of goods and services, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.3%, its lowest since February 2021. The monthly reading was in line with the Dow Jones consensus estimate while the 12-month was a bit below the forecast for 2.4%. Markets reacted little to the news, with stock futures pointing flat to slightly lower and Treasury yields mixed. ″“Good news on inflation, and we need it given inflation shocks from tariffs are on their way,” said Robert Frick, at Navy Federal Credit Union. …Shelter prices again were the main culprit in pushing up the inflation gauge. 
A metro Atlanta nonprofit is teaming up with college students to find the exact age of historic buildings using a unique area of study. While historical documents may say a building was constructed in a certain year, the wood used to create the structure could tell us a different story. Cobb Landmarks is using dendrochronology — the study of tree rings — to pinpoint when wood for metro Atlanta buildings was harvested for construction. Trevor Beemon, Cobb Landmarks’ executive director, said they are partnering with University of West Georgia students who, under the guidance of two professors, will take 12 to 15 samples from structures around metro Atlanta. …The partnership is “really the one chance” South Downtown has to learn about these buildings before they are redeveloped, Capps said. 
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Andrew Kimball announced that Artimus and Phoenix Realty Group have been selected to build over 500 new mixed-income housing units along the waterfront on the north shore of Staten Island, with a quarter of the new units set aside for affordable housing. The development will be the largest mass timber residential project in New York City… advancing commitments in Mayor Adams’ “Green Economy Action Plan,” a roadmap to grow the city’s green economy, invests in jobs and sectors that help the city combat climate change, and positions New Yorkers to benefit from the nearly 400,000 projected “green-collar” jobs in New York City by 2040. Mayor Adams… “We are not only building the affordable homes New Yorkers need but using sustainable materials to reduce our carbon footprint and help turn New York City’s waterways into the ‘Harbor of the Future.’”
SUNDRE – While the persistent, multi-year presence of a destructive pest known as spruce budworm has been noted by Alberta Forestry and Parks, an entomologist for the provincial government said the localized impact is not yet considered an epidemic. “We mapped some minor infestations that are on private land south of the Sundre area,” said Forest Health Specialist Caroline Whitehouse. …“From what we’re seeing from our aerial overview surveys – that’s the primary way that we are doing monitoring for spruce budworm – we’re not seeing what we would call an epidemic at this point,” she said. …Asked whether there are any regions in the province where there might be an epidemic unfolding, she said the department’s data from 2024 does not indicate as much. …Steve Bouchet, owner of Everblue Nursery said he is less worried about his own tree farm. …“But it’s also a forest fire risk.
For the past 10 years, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has been working to consolidate several industry-specific standards for combustible dust. In December 2024, the NFPA completed its goal by issuing “NFPA 660–Standard for Combustible Dusts and Particulate Solids.” This new standard combines six existing standards, including NFPA 61 (agricultural dust) and NFPA 664 (wood dust), into a single standard that covers all industries where combustible dust and particulates are generated, used and handled. Building permitting authorities, code enforcers and fire agencies use the NFPA standards to establish the basis of design and operation for new and existing industrial sites, so it’s important for pellet mill owners and operators to be aware of NFPA requirements, especially for new projects and plant modifications. NFPA 660 covers both administrative and engineering requirements at facilities with combustible dust, and its goal is to minimize fires and explosions, help companies maintain business continuity, and, most importantly, protect workers and the public.