These letters are all in today’s Victoria Times Colonist “Letters” section:

• Ken Gurr, Gabriola: On the gravy train, and we thought it would last: With news of the Crofton mill closure, we see the mayors and other spokespersons of the Alliance of Resource Communities busily blaming the provincial government’s old-growth policy, environmentalists, First Nations and others.
• Dr. Robert Hay, Cassidy: We’re watching jobs disappear to Asia: It’s odd how, in the aftermath of the recent report of the Crofton pulp mill’s demise, there’s been precious little comment on the related issue of raw log exports.
• Phil Le Good, Cobble Hill: Pulp mill’s tax bill was just a minor cost: Domtar did not close the pulp mill in Crofton due to North Cowichan taxation; it closed the mill because there just isn’t enough affordable fibre to continue operations with no immediate or long-term relief in sight.
• Lawrence Lambert, Cobble Hill: We need bold thinking to escape socialism: …Crofton pulp mill? Shut down. Forests? Locked up by idealistic tree-huggers who worship greenery over paycheques. This isn’t governance; it’s economic suicide fueled by reflex votes from folks too comfy in their echo chambers to see the province crumbling.
• Mike Wilkinson, Duncan: Consider the many jobs that the mill supports: With the shutdown of the Crofton mill, the trickle-down impact on many businesses such as machine shops, sawmills, trucking companies and many suppliers is quickly becoming obvious.

I have great sympathy for mill workers in Crofton and Chemainus and the other 43 mills in towns throughout B.C. that have closed because there is “insufficient viable fibre supply.” This statement is smoke to hide the fact that the companies, with the complicity of the province, have over-harvested the forest since at least the 1970s. Second-growth trees are not as voluminous as virgin timber. Second-growth is harvested in a last gasp to get as much profit from the woods before shuttering mills due to “insufficient viable fibre supply”. The forest sector has made high profits and paid tariffs and softwood lumber duties since the 1980s, and now that the merchantable timber is gone, the blame is being transferred. …This situation even has a name — “The Fall Down Effect” — and has been predicted since the 1970s. …Timber processing will have to adapt to less volume and evolve toward greater value added.

About 35 members of Elders for Ancient Trees and their supporters gathered outside Forests Minister Ravi Parmar’s office on Dec. 8 to call for stronger protections for old-growth forests. … “We stand together with the brave and intrepid forest defenders protecting the Walbran,” said organizer Jackie Larkin. “If the NDP government won’t protect these precious forests, we will. “Once these forests are gone, they’re gone, and the species who live there are gone as well.” Larkin said the group intends to continue putting pressure on the province. “We brought our message to Ravi Parmar and the NDP government today, and we will for as long as necessary,” she said. During the event, speaker Joan Rosenberg informed attendees that RCMP had arrested six protesters earlier that day for blocking a logging road leading into the Upper Walbran Valley, northwest of Port Renfrew. Among those arrested was Mohawk musician Logan Staats.

Further testing has confirmed that a sample submitted from a male white-tailed deer harvested east of Enderby is negative for chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD is an infectious and fatal disease affecting cervids, including deer, elk, moose and caribou. The initial screening test by the B.C. Animal Health Centre showed a “non-negative” finding for the sample, meaning the disease could not be definitively ruled out and required more testing. Following standard protocol, the sample was sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reference laboratory for confirmatory testing. The laboratory conducted confirmatory testing using three different methods. All results were negative for CWD.