Linda Coady
VANCOUVER – Linda Coady, President & Chief Executive Officer of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), issued the following statement in response to a commitment to undertake a “review of BC forests” that is part of the cooperation agreement announced by the BC NDP and the BC Green Party. “Another review of forest policy in BC should not be a priority right now”. “Premier Eby has already publicly acknowledged that rising US duties and tariffs on forest products would have a ‘devastating’ impact on thousands of jobs in resource communities across the province. In light of this very real threat, now is the time for urgent action on the commitments the government has already made to maintaining a competitive and sustainable forest products manufacturing sector in BC. In recent years, several major reviews, reports, and new initiatives have already focused on forestry in BC.
Last week, the new BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said that “now is the time to be bold…you are not going to see a bunch of frameworks and vision statements and grandiose plans. I think we’ve done all of that work and am very thankful to my colleagues for getting us to this place. For me, it’s now (about) focusing on those clear objectives on what we need to accomplish to have a robust, sustainable industry for the next decades.” Before yet another review is launched, Minister Parmar should be given time to put forward his plan for the completion and implementation of existing initiatives before any more new ones are introduced. …Forestry is at the forefront of advancing Indigenous reconciliation through real, on-the-ground practices and partnerships. Implementation of new land use planning processes and initiatives on conservation financing have been at least two years in the making, and are still not happening at scale.
LOS ANGELES — President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on top trade partners China, Mexico and Canada would deal a blow to the $1.7 trillion U.S. transportation industry and worsen a nearly three-year trucking recession, sector experts said. The industry that moves everything Americans make and buy is considered an economic bellwether, and will be among the first to signal any unintended consequences of trade policies that Trump says will help, not hurt, U.S. businesses. …Virtually every transportation company operating in the United States is exposed to tariff-related revenue downturns. …Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico and Canada, in particular, would hit one of the rare growth areas for trucking. The value of cargo that moves between those countries and the U.S. – which includes finished vehicles, auto parts and avocados from Mexico as well as steel and lumber from Canada – reached $88.5 billion in September 2024, up 7.7% from the year-earlier.
ARKANSAS — News about lumber mill shutdowns is always disheartening, and South Arkansas has had its share of that in 2024. West Frasier mothballed its Huttig mill this year, putting 140 people out of work. AHT Products closed its flooring mill in Warren unexpectedly, putting another 130 out of a job. Fortunately, there’s no lack of good news in the timber industry. PotlatchDeltic brought its $131 million Waldo sawmill upgrade online. Teal Jones Group is staffing up its new $110 million mill in Plain Dealing, LA, and will employ 125. Georgia-Pacific said it will expand toilet tissue production in Crossett, creating 50 jobs in a $90 million expansion. Canfor has completed the purchase of Domtar’s former El Dorado mill and about $50 million worth of improvements have been made. Finally, Weyerhaeuser announced a $500 million facility near Monticello that will employ about 200 workers. …That’s roughly $800 million and almost 400 new mill jobs coming online. This is positive local economic news going into 2025.
MILTON KEYNES, England — Rockwell Automation announced that West Fraser has made significant gains towards stringent carbon-reduction and energy saving targets at its plant in Cowie, 
VANCOUVER, BC — West Fraser Timber declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.32 per share on the Common shares and Class B Common shares in the capital of the Company, payable on January 14, 2025 to shareholders of record on December 27, 2024. Dividends are designated to be eligible dividends pursuant to subsection 89(14) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and any applicable provincial legislation pertaining to eligible dividends.
Canada’s central bank has cut interest rates for the fifth consecutive time as the country’s economy grows at a slower rate than projected. The 50-basis-point cut comes Canada’s economy grew by one per cent in the third quarter of 2024, and the fourth quarter is looking weaker than projected, according to the Bank of Canada. “Monetary policy no longer needs to be clearly in restrictive territory,” said Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem. Macklem noted consumer spending and housing activity both picked up as a result of lower interest rates. Another factor in cutting the interest rate was Canada’s unemployment rate rising to 6.8% in November as the bank says the number of people looking for work has increased faster than the number of jobs. …In making its decision, the bank cited the incoming U.S. administration and the threat of 25% tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S., adding increased uncertainty and clouding the economic outlook.
ONTARIO — Housing starts over the next few years will likely weaken and the already dire supply shortage could get even worse, warns a new report prepared for the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). Further, employment in new residential construction has peaked and will likely keep declining for the next several years at least. Entitled Housing Market Outlooks in Ontario, the report from economic research firm Will Dunning Inc. concludes that new housing starts will continue to decline “well into 2025, followed by a slow recovery of the economy and housing activity during 2026 to 2028. By the end of 2028, conditions will not have fully recovered.” Richard Lyall, RESCON president, described the findings as “particularly worrisome for builders as they point to a weakening residential construction market at the very time we need to build more housing.
The inventory destocking that occurred in virtually every industry in 2023 is coming to an end. Destocking occurred as supply chains normalized in a post-COVID world.
DUBLIN, Ireland —The housing affordability crisis that has frustrated young Americans for a decade has now taken hold in many big cities in Europe and beyond. The common threads: robust job growth, rising demand and not enough new development, causing rents and sales prices to rise faster than wages. Globally, homes are now less affordable than they were in the run-up to the 2008 housing crisis. …The resulting housing crunches are eroding living standards for poor and middle-class workers, intensifying wealth inequality and stoking political tensions. …In the 50 years through 2021, the countries with the sharpest rise in home prices around the world have been New Zealand, the U.K., Canada, Australia and Ireland. …Politicians in Canada, the U.K., Australia, Germany and South Korea are trying to boost construction by easing rules, including opening up undeveloped land for construction. National governments, though, are hamstrung by state and local rules that favor existing homeowners over renters, Hughes and Hilber said.
FSC has extended the blockage period of a Chinese bamboo plywood manufacturer by 1.5 years for repeatedly making false claims on large volumes of bamboo plywood. Despite being blocked by FSC in 2022 for making false claims, FSC found evidence that the company recertified itself under a different name. The company did not disclose its certification history to the new certification body and continued to make false claims on its products despite being blocked by FSC. …FSC considers the actions and intentions of Anji Double Tiger (and Anji Shuanghu) to be a serious threat to the integrity of the FSC system. Thus, in accordance with FSC’s Advice Note 18, FSC has blocked the company till July 2027. FSC has evidence of how this company, operating under its two names, repeatedly made false claims. 
WASHINGTON — Workforce development organization 
