Canada’s 2026 federal budget includes housing incentives, proposes $6.5B for forest sector transformation. In related news: the Forest Products Association of Canada welcomes the commitment; BC’s Truck Loggers Association calls it historic; the Council of Forest Industries urges regulatory reform; and WWF-Canada notes the lack of funding for nature restoration. In other Business news: Canadian cabinet makers face higher US tariffs; US investigates Chinese wooden fence pickets; Nippon Paper will cease production at its Kumamoto mill; Western Forest Products reports a Q3 loss of $5M; Interfor posts a $46M loss; and Mercer loses $59M.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: southern BC braces for heavy rains and potential landslides; Oregon’s record-breaking wildfire season ends; the US Forest Service scales back a California wildfire reduction project; the Forest Resources Association highlights workforce challenges; Türkiye develops firefighting drones; and the World Economic Forum examines the economic value of forests.
Finally, Sweden builds houses and apartments like Lego sets. Why don’t we?
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The federal budget handed down on Thursday includes funding pledges that are expected to benefit British Columbia. Here’s a look at some of them. The budget is proposing $6.5 billion in funding to support the forestry sector nationally over six years. It doesn’t provide a province-by-province breakdown, although it points out that B.C. accounts for 29% of the national forest sector’s GDP, representing the biggest share in Canada. There’s $4 billion for a new “forestry sector accelerator” to make investments in large facilities and major transformations of existing facilities, “including biorefineries, biofuel facilities, and other facilities producing higher-value and innovative forest products.” A further $2 billion is to help businesses in the forest sector modernize and expand, while $500 million goes towards strengthening fibre supply chains and supporting forest management. …The budget announces a $64-million loan guarantee to support the Tla’amin Nation acquiring 100% ownership of Western Forest Products’ Stillwater Forest Operation.
Improving mill performance does not always require a new production line. Across the United States, pulp and paper mills have achieved significant savings and operational improvements by upgrading existing equipment, refining processes and making better use of production data.
ST CATHERINES, Ontario — Alain Ouzilleau spent 40 years building Cabico into one of Canada’s biggest kitchen cabinet makers. …U.S. tariffs on Canadian kitchen cabinets are set to double to 50% on Jan. 1, threatening thousands of small manufacturers that employ almost 25,000 people, Ouzilleau said. The kitchen cabinet industry is part of the broader softwood lumber sector, among the main industries hit by U.S. tariffs, alongside steel, aluminum and automotive manufacturing. The industry is highly fragmented, comprising thousands of small, labour-intensive companies that are particularly vulnerable to rising costs and falling orders, and has shed more than 10 per cent of its workforce since Trump first imposed tariffs. …While Canada’s economy has avoided mass layoffs and grown modestly despite U.S. tariffs, the uncertainty has wreaked havoc on small businesses. Furniture makers were already struggling with an influx of cheap Chinese products, according to interviews with three wood product manufacturers.
American importers of Chinese fence pickets could be paying duties from January, with the 
NEW YORK — Mercer International reported third quarter 2026 Operating EBITDA of negative $2.9 million, an improvement from negative $28.1 million in the same quarter of 2025 and negative $21.0 million in the second quarter of 2026. In the third quarter of 2026, net loss was $59.2 million compared to $80.8 million in the third quarter of 2025 and $76.0 million in the second quarter of 2026. As announced on November 2, 2026, Mercer entered into restructuring support agreements with significant support from noteholders and shareholders to, among other things, effectuate a balance sheet restructuring which will address $1.275 billion of our outstanding senior notes and provide for $400 million of fully backstopped new capital to position Mercer for long-term success. Our operating subsidiaries will continue to operate their businesses with no impact on customers, suppliers and employees.
Interfor Corporation reported today its third quarter of 2026 results. Highlights include: Adjusted EBITDA was $76.9 million on sales of $832.1 million in Q3’26 versus Adjusted EBITDA of $92.3 million on sales of $804.4 million in Q2’26 and an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $183.8 million on sales of $689.3 million in Q3’25. Interfor recorded a net loss in Q3’26 of $45.6 million, compared to net earnings of $1.0 million, and a net loss of $215.8 million in Q3’25. The net loss in Q3’26 was driven in large part by a non-cash impairment charge of $53.2 million related to a previously curtailed mill in Eastern Canada. …The Company generated $61.4 million of positive cash flow from operations after working capital changes in Q3’26 and available liquidity increased to $462.4 million at September 30, 2026. The Company has generated positive cash flow from operations in each quarter of 2026.
VANCOUVER, BC – Western Forest Products announced it third quarter 2026 results. Revenue for the period was $237 million compared to revenue in Q3, 2025 of $233 million, and Q2, 2026 of $240 million. The company reported Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 million in the third quarter of 2026, as compared to negative $66 minion in the same period last year. …Net loss was $5.2 million in the third quarter of 2026, as compared to a net loss of $61.3 million for the same period last year. Results in the third quarter of 2026 benefitted from higher realized lumber prices, higher log shipments and the gain on the sale of our CVD sawmill site, partially offset by lower lumber shipments compared to the same period last year. Results in the third quarter of 2025 were negatively impacted by the finalization of the sixth AR.
New multifamily housing confidence weakened year-over-year in the third quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) by the NAHB. The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) had a reading of 41, down five points year-over-year, while the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) had a reading of 69, also down five points year-over-year. Developer sentiment for new multifamily production has softened, due to challenges such as high interest rates, construction costs that are high relative to rents, and problems getting projects approved and connected to roads and utilities, resulting in many projects taking longer to complete. Due to the headwinds facing the industry, NAHB’s 2027 forecast shows a decline for multifamily starts.
Sweden’s talent for mass-producing clever, easy-to-assemble home fixtures also extends to building entire houses and apartments. Ikea has become one of the biggest furniture retailers in the US. But those factory-built Swedish homes? Americans can’t have them. Yet. In factories throughout Sweden, workers assemble modular rooms that will become components of new homes. The modules are then trucked to their final destinations, hoisted up by crane, and arranged into place to form whole single-family or multifamily buildings — like a giant Lego set. …Estimates vary, but Susanne Rudenstam, managing director of the Swedish Wood Building Council, told me about 90% of the country’s new single-family homes are built with prefabricated timber systems. According to Sweden’s national statistics agency, 43% of new multifamily apartments are constructed with fully prefabricated structural frames. Another 46% are partially prefabricated. …The difference in Sweden is that it has embraced a “performance-based” building code.
