Gerry Byrne

CORNER BROOK, N.L. – Fisheries and Land Resources Minister Gerry Byrne announced $9.6 million in funding for the forest sector in Corner Brook on Friday morning. …The funding will be used to support employment in rural communities and help open new markets and products for renewable, resource-based businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes $5.7 million for forest industry development projects, $400,000 for secondary forestry processing innovation pilot projects, and $3.5 million to establish forestry biomass market opportunities. “We’re doing this not only in response, as an economic, a recovery response to COVID-19, but we’re also doing it as a recovery plan and an economic opportunity well after COVID-19,” said Byrne. He said there’s an opportunity that never goes away, and that is the opportunity to develop the forest products industry.