Corey Hogan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, delivered the federal government’s address at the 2026 COFI Convention Thursday morning, telling delegates that Canada’s forest sector stands at a genuine moment of transformation — and that the federal government intends to be an active partner in navigating it. Representing the riding of Calgary Confederation and serving on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Hogan outlined more than $2 billion in federal measures announced since April 2025 and made a new $4 million funding announcement tied to a BC-based company.
Hogan opened by acknowledging what he said everyone in the room already knew: that significant unjustified US tariffs, fibre supply pressures, global competition, rapidly shifting markets, and the urgency of climate action are converging on the sector simultaneously. Rather than framing these pressures as threats alone, he said they are also incentivizing the industry to modernize, diversify, innovate, and lead. The federal government’s $2 billion-plus response since April 2025, he said, includes enhanced access to financing, liquidity supports, worker protections, and tools to help companies invest in their future — measures designed not only to keep mills running and people working, but to give forest-dependent communities confidence that Ottawa is engaged.
Central to that engagement, he said, is a half-billion dollars for the renewal of Natural Resources Canada’s forest sector transformation programs, opened by Minister Tim Hodgson at the end of February and now accepting applications through a national call for proposals. The programs have been redesigned around four objectives: innovating and diversifying wood products made in Canada, driving domestic demand including for affordable housing, supporting Indigenous participation in the sector, and opening new domestic and international markets.
Under one of those programs — NRCan’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation, known as IFIT — Hogan announced $4 million for Atlas Engineered Products, a BC-based company building a new robotics-enabled wood components manufacturing facility in Clinton, Ontario. The facility is designed to improve precision, reduce material waste, and produce engineered structural components intended to accelerate housing construction timelines across Canada. Hogan described it as exactly the kind of project the government wants to see more of.
He also updated delegates on the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, established in December and comprised of eight industry leaders tasked with outlining recommendations on how to restructure, retool, and transform the sector for long-term competitiveness. The task force has reviewed more than 170 submissions from across the country and is finalizing its report for delivery to Minister Hodgson by April 18. Based on early signals from the co-chairs, Hogan said the themes heard were stark, if not surprising: a pressing need to recapitalize and attract new investment, the central importance of secure and predictable fibre access, concerns about complex and overlapping regulation, and the need for genuine intergovernmental collaboration across federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous jurisdictions. He said the government intends to take the recommendations seriously and use the task force as a mechanism for accountability.
Hogan organized the federal strategy around two pillars. Domestically, the government is focused on building resilience and catalyzing innovation — simplifying and harmonizing policy and regulation, and creating new markets at home so Canadian producers benefit from Canadian customers. He pointed specifically to the federal Buy Canadian policy and the Build Canada Homes initiative as signals that the government intends to make Canadian forestry products the preferred choice for Canadian construction. Internationally, the focus is on diversifying trading partners beyond the US and growing trade where Canada already has a foothold. He acknowledged that the US market cannot be replaced — it is too large and too close — but argued that moving even a few percentage points of export volume to Europe, Asia, and other growing markets would meaningfully change both the sector’s outlook and Canada’s leverage in softwood lumber discussions.
On softwood lumber directly, Hogan said Canada’s position is consistent: duties and tariffs are harmful to workers, industry, and housing affordability on both sides of the border, creating uncertainty for Canadian producers and US consumers alike. He noted that key US industry associations including the National Association of Home Builders and the US Chamber of Commerce continue to argue that the tariffs raise prices and impede housing starts. Canada, he said, remains prepared to engage with CUSMA partners to advance shared economic interests, and views the agreement as a framework that strengthens the whole North American region.
He closed by arguing that Canada is, in the broadest sense, a forestry nation — and that given the right conditions, the right regulatory environment, predictable fibre access, access to capital, and access to markets, the sector will ultimately be successful and continue to provide opportunity for generations to come.
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