Mike Bernier

Opposition forests critic Mike Bernier taking a wait and see attitude to the provincial government’s recently-announced doubling of funding to Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. For 2023, FESBC will have $50 million to distribute. Projects funded through FEBC subsidize retrieval of fire-damaged wood and logging waste from areas too remote or costly to access. Premier David Eby announced the allotment in January while attending the Truck Loggers Association Convention in Vancouver. “Doubling in essence is good, if we get results with it,” Bernier said Tuesday. However, Bernier said the better strategy is to give forest companies the certainty they need to make investment decisions. “To know that if they apply for permits, there will be a timeline that they can follow, that they’ll have access to timber and that they can look at reducing costs for them,” he said. “That’s what these companies want.”