Category Archives: Opinion / EdiTOADial

Many new and substantive forest policy changes in British Columbia have just been announced by government. …One disruptive change is an announced policy to defer timber harvesting in 2.6 million hectares of old growth forests. …The second involves an involuntary redistribution of long-term forest tenures. …These two policy announcements will collectively be a significant impact to the industry with a potential loss of between 10,000 to 12,000 jobs (my loose estimate). …It is my opinion that the BC government’s new forest sector strategies have flaws. They do not seem to be based on science, socio-economics or even good forest data, as the proposed policies show a lack of process and understanding about how the existing forest industry really works.

…A healthy commodity industry is still a prerequisite to allowing success to slowly build in other small or specialty businesses over time. By flipping a switch to reduce the forest tenures for established mills with the hope that unproven and under-capitalized smaller sawmills and value-added businesses can grow is a high-risk strategy. …Even before all these announced policy initiatives, the government can also be credited for allowing BC to be positioned as one of the highest cost commodity lumber producing regions in the world, tied to an ill-designed stumpage formula. Social engineering of the forest industry by the government never really works since you need to have the confidence of investors. Quickly devised social programs that benefit one part of an industry and the expense of another will cause investors to flee. 

The BC forest sector is being overwhelmed by a series of major changes to forest policy. …In the span of less than 30 days, the NDP government has made six announcements that will massively reshape the sector. Taken individually, some of these changes notionally are not necessarily bad ideas. …Unfortunately, delivering these changes as a package all at once will be very problematic. …Primary manufacturers are a strategic component to the rest of the industry, and if they shut down there will be huge holes that will not be filled for years, or maybe never. While rebalancing the sector as a concept has its positives… the series of major policy changes has cast a pale of toxicity onto the industry. It has reaffirmed institutional investors’ view of BC under the NDP as un- investable. Boards of the major companies are now likely directing their operations to reduce unnecessary expenditures and cancel any upgrades. Already, and sadly, contractors are seeing their amount of work diminish.

The Bill 28, Forest Amendment Act is the NDP government’s legislative reform of the Forest Act. Bill 28 provides the Crown mechanisms for making old growth deferrals, implementing tenure redistribution, major revisions to the compensation process for lost harvesting rights, new requirements for forest inventories which will be necessary to support compensation, and a few other issues. Collectively, these are not minor changes and will reshape the forest sector. …The cloud of uncertainty is not going to clear in a few months or even a few years. Without understanding the goal posts of these tenure redistribution reforms, it is hard to draw conclusions, other than there is a potential for a real big mess and a much smaller industry.

Per Russ Taylor: A super rain and windstorm, the so-called “atmospheric river” hit BC and Washington State with catastrophic results last weekend. Main roads and bridges that are integral to the infrastructure throughout BC were breached, including on all major highways and rail lines. …Full details in pictures and videos can be found in the excellent summary prepared by the Washington Post. …The reality from the storm is that business and logistics operations will not be back to even close to normal levels until well into December and perhaps not until after the New Year. This will mean that the lumber supply from BC, and to some degree from Washington State, will be reduced as supply chains remain in disarray. With the Port of Vancouver currently cut off from road and rail service, lumber export deliveries to the port could be limited as the priority should shift to moving more critical cargos through the port – that may not include lumber, so it will need to be redirected into North America.

Per Paul Quinn:

• The impact from BC and Washington State is that lumber supply could be reduced for an extended period.
• The service disruption sets up for a challenging winter transportation season.
• Even prior to the flooding, the lack of containers was a material constraint on export volumes.
• The increase in US softwood duties are a weak reason to increase prices, but buyers are more likely to pay higher prices if mills ask for it
• This leaves risk firmly skewed to the upside heading into 2022.
• Traders are mostly seeing a tighter supply scenario resulting and believe that the price risk is skewed to the upside.

Last week, the BC government announced intentions to defer timber harvesting for 2.6 million hectares of BC’s old growth forests. …Estimates for job losses range from 4,500 to 18,000 jobs. Given there is so some much at stake I would expect Premier Horgan and Minister Conroy to have gone above and beyond to ensure the deferrals announced, along with the science and data behind them was rock solid. …They owed those who would lose their jobs respect and confidence in the decisions given the workers would be paying the price. To my great dismay, I do not see respect or confidence and here is why. …Forsite Consultants recently found that 3.3 million hectares or 29.3% of old growth forests were on sites capable of producing large trees – a sharp contrast to the less than previous 3% estimate. …When the results of the Last Stand report, Forsite and TAP’s Priority Deferrals are compared, I do not see “the same results.”

One of the most absolutely astounding parts about the deferral announcement was the 30-day request to First Nations to indicate support for these deferrals, or not. …[Further] is the misleading nature of the 2.6 million hectares.  As pointed out, the maps show deferrals within protected areas, so those areas are not part of the 2.6 million hectares but we have no way of telling what is. …This is not a transparent or open process and appears designed to confuse (or worse, made up literally in the moment). …First Nations deserve better.  Workers and business owners of the BC forest sector deserve better. We all deserve better. Halt this process, be transparent and get it right – not for the Sierra Club, not for votes, but for the people of this province.

Brian Hawrysh

This week’s announcement from BC’s government on old growth harvesting deferrals was at the same time confusing and potentially devastating to BC’s Forest products industry and more than a hundred forestry dependent communities throughout the province. Equally concerning, is that BC’s value-added wood products manufacturers will likely bear a disproportional share of the job losses that will result. …What is frustrating to the value-added sector is that after months’ of listening to the governments’ public commitment to increasing the value generated from the province’s timber harvest, the old growth announcement appears to be a significant reversal of this stated policy.

Equally concerning is that the plan seems to have been developed without any prior consultation with Indigenous Nations, forestry dependent communities, labour, forest professionals, or representatives from BC’s primary and value-added industry.  In recent years, BC’s value-added wood products sector witnessed a period of strong growth marked by new investments and employment growth.  We are certain that BC has the potential to be home to an even larger value-added wood products sector. …Should the government move ahead without a well thought-out phase in approach, our manufacturers will not be able to adapt and we will lose some of the most innovative and dynamic companies in the industry. Forest policy in the province must and will continue to evolve. BC Wood calls on the government to take a leadership roll and initiate serious discussions… to achieve the goal of establishing a healthy, profitable and sustainable forest industry.

An aura of calm envelops British Columbia’s interior forest industry as the winter log harvesting season approaches. It seems misplaced. There is no lack of concerns. It is true the region is well accustomed to riding the peaks and valleys of an export-reliant forest sector. And perhaps that apparent calmness is attributable to familiarity: several of the issues confronting the industry represent the usual suspects. For example, friction remains with the United States’ duties on Canadian softwood imports. …As of this writing, the B.C. government has been mute in releasing details of promised changes to forest policy in the province, which could influence everything from forest land use and tenure reform to stumpage rates. The government’s inertia leaves the forest industry in limbo and inhibits its planning.

An additional concern is the COVID-19 pandemic. It refuses to abate. …Links in international supply chains have become unreliable or are missing altogether. Markets are understandably skittish but the volatility being demonstrated on a regular basis is unprecedented. The dramatic decline in lumber prices coupled with the B.C. Interior’s status as a high cost lumber producing region has already re-introduced a familiar foe. …production curtailments. …All the latest changes and challenges facing the B.C. Interior forest industry come as the sector is attempting to rationalize its operations in the post-lodgepole pine beetle epidemic era. …A similar situation faces the logging contractors. …Maybe that apparent calmness within the B.C. interior forest industry is actually a quiet desperation.

The Last Stand report, published as input to the Old Growth Strategic Review conducted by the NDP government in 2020, concludes: There is less than 3% (or 415,000 hectares) of old growth forests with large trees remaining in the province.” The notion of “less than 3%” was immediately embraced by prominent environment organizations… [and] the government has since committed to implementing its Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests”. …According to Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, the government is committed to ensuring the use of the “best science and data available.” The commitment stands out because… Forsite Consultants, a highly respected firm known for its expertise in forest inventory analysis has recently published a new perspective.

Forsite’s report found… 3.3 million hectares or 29.3% of old growth forests were on sites that met The Last Stand report’s definition for producing large trees – a sharp contrast to the less than 3% estimate. Bottomline – Forsite used better, more current data and a more appropriate methodology. …Now we have better data – does that not change things? Did the government know better information existed? If the government was aware, why has it not been presented to the public? And why has the 3% estimate not been challenged? …As a forester and a British Columbian, I just want to know the truth. …My comments are not meant to question the abilities of The Last Stand report’s authors, rather my concerns rest with their estimates generated. Forsite has demonstrated there is better data and… the accuracy of estimates is a very serious issue given the implications to the livelihoods of people of this province.

Arising out the BC Government’s Modernizing Forest Policy intentions has come some recently introduced legislative changes, with amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act. …One important positive change is the introduction of shared decision making with government and First Nations in the development of forest landscape plans. This change represents further steps to reconciliation and greater (and direct) assertion of the Indigenous voice at the forest landscape planning level. Looking at the big picture, the following is my offering of considerations:

• MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP building by industry participants with First Nations will be critical to ensure a steady supply of fibre to mills.
• NO GUARANTEES that First Nations owning tenure and harvesting timber will help achieve economic self-determination. Tenure management is not easy and is costly. 
• CAPACITY is a critical element for success. Finding experienced staff to work for government will be a major pinch point as it increases its role in forest management.
• UNCERTAINTIES are part and parcel of operating in the natural resource sector today.
• INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE A SMALLER INDUSTRY – landscape level planning, old growth deferrals, wildfires, at risk wildlife species habitat management – all will likely contribute to reductions in AAC.
• COLONIALISM & RETURN MAXIMIZATION  I would like to see and help more First Nations move further along the value chain with their harvested timber, maximizing returns to their communities.

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While I would never presume to see the industry through the lens of Indigenous people, I have spent the last two years almost exclusively working on First Nations-related projects. I have found the work complex, dynamic and rewarding. Embracing and understanding the Indigenous voice is the path forward. …The voice of Indigenous peoples is rising loudly and with it comes the winds of change to the BC forest sector. These winds are being carried forward by a multitude of policy initiatives and legislation instigated by the NDP government. …While I suspect many in the sector are worried about the uncertainties of the government’s initiatives, I believe these are exciting times to witness First Nations (re)gaining greater control of lands within their traditional territories and seeking to strengthen their economic self- sufficiency.

Jim Girvan

On the heels of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, a number of new threats in the form of land use planning decisions may again threaten the solid wood and pulp and paper sectors. …Key land use decisions pertaining to old-growth preservation and caribou habitat protection are the big hitters. Other factors include fires, spruce beetle infestations, First Nations tenure transfers, landscape level planning and harvest deferrals to generate carbon credits. In order to understand the impact that old-growth deferral may have, an analysis was undertaken to assess the remaining old-growth timber by provincial landscape unit.

…On the coast, preservation of old growth at the 30 per cent threshold would result in… a whopping 40 per cent reduction of the AAC. For the Interior, the results were similarly shocking… a 30 per cent reduction in the AAC. A caribou habitat protection plan… suggesting protection of at least 65 per cent of all forested area by landscape unit… and the BC Interior would see another 10 per cent reduction. …With all of the assumptions made… on the Coast… we would see the closure of another four sawmills and a third of the Coast’s shake and shingle industry. In the Interior… we would expect to see the closure of another five sawmills and two veneer plants. On the pulp and paper side… it is likely that at least two or more Interior pulp mills and potentially a coastal paper mill would be forced to curtail. …Job loss across BC in the logging and trucking sectors together with all of the closures would devastate many rural communities. 

Over the past several months, I had the honour of engaging… with many of BC’s resource communities’ leadership. The one consistent question I continued to hear was, “why do we still log old growth?” It’s a fair question asked by those who want to support forestry, but also want to better understand the issues. …The simple answer is, it’s very complex. And the challenge in answering this question is it doesn’t fit into today’s digital demand for a 15-second sound bite. To start, we need to address the economic reasons to continue old growth harvesting. Today, about 27 per cent (50 per cent on the Coast) of BC’s annual harvest remains dependent on old growth. And the reality is the reliance on harvesting old growth is significant to BC’s viability to the tune of 100,000 jobs, 140 dependent resource communities, $15 billion in GDP, and $4 billion in tax revenues.

Currently, the vast majority of the sector depends on old growth for its products. There will be opportunities for value-added using second growth but the enhanced development of these opportunities will take significant capital in terms of new machinery and technology along with years to develop the markets for any such envisioned products. In other words, we need time to transition along with an investment climate that will be stable and considered favourable to those making such business decisions. …Despite varying perspectives, the reality is that all old growth is not created equal simply due to where it grows and its history. …And many of the stands are in a state of decay and mortality rendering them ineffective in the climate objective of sequestering carbon. 

In the second week of September something happened which has not occurred for a very long time with any Canadian provincial government – the Saskatchewan government announced new timber allocations. …All four companies receiving these timber allocations have capacity investments of almost $1 billion. …Saskatchewan’s announcements make me want to call this province the “US South of Canada” because I cannot recall in the last decade when else such a large active expansion of the Canadian industry has taken place.

…One might conclude that the geographical limits of economically feasible timber supply in the BC interior were tested with this last price rally given the record margins earned by sawmills. …Major capacity investments will go elsewhere as BC government policy cannot just physically increase timber supply in the short term, unlike Saskatchewan where provincial forests were underutilized. Furthermore, BC has some of the highest delivered log costs in North America in part due to its stumpage system.

Reduced options due to a constrained timber supply also explains the reasoning behind why the BC government continuously pushes for “value-added manufacturing” (it is just too bad, no one really knows what value-added means). The challenge for the BC government will be to develop unique policy that supports the industry while timber supply is shrinking (and to hopefully not make further arbitrary supply reductions i.e., politically motivated old growth timber deferrals). Ironically, all four companies receiving timber allocations in Saskatchewan are BC-based companies.

Russ Taylor Global: The global pandemic has created a wild lumber market since April 2020. …Following the peak of US lumber prices in late May 2021 at US$1,630/Mbf… lumber prices have slowly clawed their way higher to US$472/Mbf (as of Sept 17)… [and] the outlook is for improving US prices into fourth quarter before a likely correction occurs later in the year. In looking into 2022, prices could be in the US $600/Mbf range at times in Q1 and Q2 before a more balanced supply and demand situation occurs with lower prices. Considering that the peak US lumber prices prior to 2018 was US$470/Mbf… projected price levels should look extremely attractive to most North American lumber mills. However, not in BC.

In Europe, the situation is like the US but with a different price cycle. While US prices took off very quickly at the start of the pandemic, European prices lagged and grew slowly as domestic as well as offshore market conditions took longer to crystallize. …In Asian markets, a somewhat similar trend to Europe is evident in Japan, where are prices peaked two to three months after the US market peak. …The cost structures of the BC interior sawmills are the worst in North America right now. …As a result, BC mills may be facing further curtailments in 2021-Q4 unless prices rise by up to US$100/Mbf, or until stumpage corrects to much lower levels starting in 2022-Q1. BC Coast mills are also negatively impacted by higher government stumpage rates.

Christine Gelowitz

The Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) has received a range of concerns from registrants in recent weeks about the individuals appointed to the provincial government’s old growth technical panel. These concerns range from questions about the qualification of the panel members to… concern about registrants who are critical of the government’s selection of candidates. …Some perspective is needed. First, the role of the ABCFP under the Professional Governance Act (PGA) is to ensure that only competent, registered forest professionals practice professional forestry. …This does not mean that the ABCFP governs the opinions of forest professionals or their freedom to express different viewpoints publicly. Second, the government is entitled to choose its advisors on matters of public policy.

These are challenging and polarizing times… and regardless of personal views about the management of public forests, forest professionals have to step back and re-examine the public interest at this pivotal time in history. …And while personal opinions of forest professionals can help shape the dialogue and direction, they must always remain cognizant that determining the outcome about how BC forests will be used or managed is the role of government. …The diverse, informed voices of forest professionals are integral to developing sustainable long-term solutions in forest management. Despite the challenges speaking out can present, I encourage you to find meaningful ways to wade into or lead discussions, to not get caught up in opinion-based rhetoric, but rather bring data and knowledge… to best meet the evolving public and First Nations interests.

BC, Alberta and New Brunswick, have different methodologies of setting stumpage rates for provincial sawlogs that can disproportionately impact sawmill operators.

When it comes to trying to analyze how public timber stumpage prices are set by some provinces in Canada for companies holding forest licences, this can be a real puzzle. Three provinces, British Columbia, Alberta and New Brunswick, have different methodologies of calculating and setting stumpage rates for provincial sawlogs that can disproportionately impact sawmill operators, as summarized below. New Brunswick has held its rates at the same level as was set six years ago. …Consequently, the provincial government may have foregone millions of dollars in public timber revenues in the last four quarters. …Alberta has taken the other extreme where timber stumpage prices are tied in a formula to monthly lumber prices for the previous four weeks. …In contrast to New Brunswick, Alberta appears to have captured its fair share on the value of its crown timber. In the middle is British Columbia with a third approach, and one that has turned out to be messy at times for forest operators when lumber prices are volatile.

Pricing timber on public forests does not have to be complicated for forest operators and sawmills, as Alberta and New Brunswick demonstrate. Why these three provincial stumpage systems are so widely different – and why BC’s timber formula lags the reality of lumber market prices – is a real puzzle. How then are the Americans supposed to assess these different provincial stumpage formulas as all being equitable, especially when the negotiations on the next US-Canada softwood lumber agreement take place?

The last few years of wildfires in BC… are a concern for all. In 2017, wildfire burnt a record 1.2 million hectares, which stunned everyone, including a fledgling NDP government. …Little did anyone know then, that 2018’s wildfire season would surpass 2017’s. With 2.6 million hectares burnt in these two years, was this a new trend in wildfire activity? The following two years, 2019 and 2020, were essentially no shows in terms of wildfire activity… Then came 2021, with 862,992 hectares estimated as burnt so far – the third greatest amount of area burnt, at least in the last 30 years. Astoundingly, these three standout years had a total area burnt that was approximately 1% of the entire province for each year – three occurrences so close together, now that makes for a bonafide trend. 

With this new trend established, the Province should be modeling impacts to timber supply and communities on a regional basis, reviewing how wildfires are budgeted for, reviewing how wildfires are fought, reviewing how they are dealt with afterwards, and to seek a massive boost in investments for mitigative treatments and infrastructure. With regards to the supply chain… The potential for wildfires to impact sawmills is anticipated every year and as such are usually prepared with built-up log yard inventories. Unfortunately, in areas with repetitive intense wildfire activity, sawmills will have their long-term timber supply reduced and may become the ones with some of the highest probabilities of closure in the province. 

Balanced solutions to B.C.’s old-growth forests protection that best serves all British Columbians is possible — but it seems out of reach. For example, the provincial government’s recently announced Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel that will dictate government’s decision-making on logging deferrals is very troubling. Not because of its intent, but for the blatant unbalanced representation of its members. This committee — absent of any forest-sector professionals, forestry-dependent communities or First Nations leadership — will recommend and lobby for new areas needed to be protected without any understanding of the consequences of their opinions. …But dig a bit deeper and you’ll find the composition of its members dominated by Sierra Club affiliates and other individuals … vocally against any continued old-growth harvesting.

…In the Fairy Creek standoff, sophisticated and wealthy environmental groups distort facts, disrespect First Nations leadership, recklessly ignore fire hazards, steal and vandalize equipment, leave their trash and encourage illegal blockades, but yet seem to be rewarded for such behaviour by being given the opportunity to comprise an unaccountable committee that will ultimately determine the future state of our forest industry. …There is a path forward that will work, but it requires people to actually talk to each other as opposed to an apparent encouragement of separate polarized camps of opinion. …The world’s need and desire for wood will not diminish. Shutting down old-growth logging in BC will only move the supply to unregulated regimes. 

Bruce Blackwell

Some of the most pressing and challenging issues that pose significant barriers to prescribed fire application include: our broad land management framework… gaps in legislation and policy and even definitions… legal liability for fire escapes… protection of human health and current smoke management guidelines… current high fuel loads… and capacity limitations as it relates to training and skills to execute sound, ecologically appropriate prescribed burns. …Before we can increase the landscape application of prescribed fire to a scale that is required to address the current fuel problems, we must work to reduce the barriers listed. As a collective group of practitioners, we need to do a better job of finding solutions to the barriers.

Bill Dumont

It is distressing and disrespectful that the Fairy Creek protesters have collected more than $1 million from the public using the Pacheedaht traditional territory and Pacheedaht resources to achieve that milestone. In addition to the urgent need for full transparency about what has happened with those funds the protesters should be delivering most of it to the Pacheedaht leadership and community who have continually and respectfully asked for these outsiders to leave their ancestral lands. With Trump-like misinformation about B.C.’s forestry practices the year-long Fairy Creek campaign has continued even though major logging deferrals were agreed to by the Pacheedaht, Teal Jones and the B.C. government months ago.

Lawlessness is escalating at Fairy Creek with illegal tree falling, continued civil disobedience, attacks on the hardworking RCMP enforcing a legal injunction, littering and vandalism including defacing road safety signs. Protester presence adds to already high forest fire risks in the area and there are significant human waste issues there. All taxpayers are being burdened by paying the huge costs of policing and protecting the public and the Pacheedaht people. The protesters and others supporting them are acting in a paternal and colonial manner by demanding the Pacheedaht people adhere to the protesters’ views of logging and resource development and promoting conflict in the Pacheedaht community. Time for this craziness to stop!

It’s a new decade, and we are now pondering government’s just-released initiative, “Modernizing Forest Policy in BC; Setting the Intention and Leading the Forest Sector Transition”. …First impressions? Obviously, the reference to completing the Contractor Sustainability Review process… was necessary and very welcomed. …More broadly, there are many elements we can agree on, be it through increased allocations to Indigenous peoples, increased volumes to communities, altering the BC Timber Sales program, or promotion of volumes directed to value-added manufacturers. …I’m doubtful about how exactly the intention of improving BC’s investment climate and our overall competitiveness will be achieved… taking away tenure from the majors (and potentially contractors) with an undefined compensation package.

Yet another important issue is the old-growth strategy. Government needs to make decisions based on facts, not the fictitious headlines that inundate media. Unfortunately, the math is a bit too simple: the more area government protects, the smaller the forestry sector will become. …Our expectation is that government will consult with those actively involved and responsible for delivering on most of the aspirations outlined, who include BC’s logging contractors, resource communities, and suppliers. We collectively bring a grounded reality and practicality to what can realistically and successfully be accomplished. We are amid yet another critical point in history. This time, if done right, the difference will be that such changes end up benefitting all of us in BC’s forest industry.

Yet again, the forest industry is caught in an escalating cycle of those opposed to B.C.’s resource sector and those whose livelihoods rely on our forests. In all ways, we should be thankful that peaceful and lawful protests can occur in our democracy. So kudos to those local community groups expressing desire for change; while we may not be in agreement about the changes, we do agree change is needed, and look forward to working with them in forging a successful future together. These days call upon all of us to take a long, hard look at how B.C.’s citizens want its forestry sector and economy to prosper. And we need to do this with facts and balance, not hyperbole and rhetoric. We will continue to speak out on the need to protect and enhance B.C.’s working forests as an absolute necessity. Without such assurances, any new business will be hard-pressed to make major investments in technology and productivity. 

The latest [media] stunt being [played by] some ENGOs is the “failing report card” on the government’s handling of the old-growth logging issue. Cute, but not really constructive. These days call upon all of us to take a long hard look at where we want BC’s forest sector and economy to head. But first, some fundamental contradictions have to be tackled head on. For some, there seems to be a false sense of reality that the current state of our forestry sector is just fine. Unfortunately, those of us in the business know very well that our reality is full of uncertainty and is stifling BC’s investment climate. We’ve often commented on (and will continue to do so) the need to protect and enhance BC’s working forests. Without such assurances, any new business will be hard pressed to make major investments in technology and productivity. …New political leadership and the potential for a revamped ministry that better supports the forestry sector might be the catalyst.

Roger Whittaker

When I open a story on my computer or spread the inky pages out before me, I have a certain level of expectations. …I do not expect to be walloped into stupidity by semantic sleight of hand and stealthy word placement the way I was when began to read the dreadful piece recently included in Tree Frog News daily email news aggregator, “Your hardwood floor was probably harvested illegally” subtitled “U.S. Forest Service test shows as much as 62% of U.S. wood products are mislabelled” by Rachel Koning Beals of MarketWatch. …Yet this piece you are now reading is not so much to call out Ms. Koning Beals about her twisty relativistic attempt to circumvent the truth. The commenters were on her like a swarm of South American Bees. This piece is to ask you, as a reader, if you also seek truth or if you are living in an echo chamber… Her morally superior high road is to not choose to use wood on your floor because you cannot be sure it wasn’t cut under nefarious circumstances, thus setting about to call into disrepute all who call the forest their office, the same way the No Fur folks destroyed the ingenuity and income of those who live in Canada’s North. …the point of this piece is to ask you, as a reader, to look at the use of linguistic sleight of hand as you read.