The B.C. government’s attempts to blame U.S. President Donald Trump for everything wrong with the province’s forestry sector ran headlong into a reality check with the closure of Domtar’s long-running Crofton pulp mill on Vancouver Island. … Crofton doesn’t sell its goods … to the Americans, and so its decline isn’t being driven by the ongoing softwood lumber tariffs. The culprit, according to the company, is provincial forestry policies. …“We’re the most expensive jurisdiction in North America to do forestry,” echoed Council of Forest Industries CEO Kim Haakstad. …Forest Minister Parmar insists there’s wood permitted and available. The sector argues the cost is so high, it’s not worth harvesting. Politics is another layer in the Crofton closure. …The premier keeps demanding urgency from Ottawa on forestry. Too bad his government can’t muster any of it to fix its own policy failures here at home. Maybe then, mills like Crofton wouldn’t be closing.
- Related by Darron Kloster in the Times-Colonist: Industry blames province for closure of Crofton mill, loss of 350 jobs
- By Les Leyne in the Victoria Times Colonist: Crofton closure is endless replay of a bad movie