Susan Yurkovich

Vancouver, B.C. – The BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) is pleased to announce that it has joined the Coalition for a Better Future, with all its 20 member companies endorsing the Coalition’s vision – a membership that supports close to 100,000 jobs and contributes nearly $13 billion in GDP annually in B.C. The announcement was made as delegates gather at the 2022 COFI Convention where former Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor and Founding Member of the Coalition’s Advisory Council Carolyn Wilkins is slated to give a keynote address on the final day of the event, April 29th. This will be the Coalition’s first public appearance in B.C. “We are thrilled to be joining the Coalition for a Better Future and collaborating on driving a winning economic plan for Canada that delivers for people and the planet” said Susan Yurkovich, President and CEO of COFI. 

Katrine Conroy

Both sides on the issue of old-growth logging in British Columbia are so polarized they “can’t see the forest for the trees,” Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said Thursday.  Conroy told those attending the BC Council of Forest Industries conference that, though old-growth logging has garnered passionate public debate, she believes the views of most residents fall somewhere in the middle of the extremes.  “I think most of us in the province are somewhere in the middle of that topic, and thank goodness for that because government has been very clear on this issue,” she said. Conroy said the province is implementing a strategic review of B.C.’s old-growth forest management and is working with First Nations and other partners to develop a new long-term strategythat “prioritizes ecosystem health and community prosperity.”

Katrine Conroy

Through CleanBC funding committed in Budget 2022, the Province is providing $19 million over three years to increase the carbon stored in B.C.’s forests and develop innovative, low-carbon forest-based products that support good jobs for people. …“Our government is taking action to promote healthy forests as a legacy for our children and grandchildren while building a sustainable, innovative forest economy that’s led by Indigenous Peoples,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, speaking at the 2022 Convention of the BC Council of Forestry Industries. This investment includes more than $15 million to increase the amount of carbon stored in B.C.’s forests and enhance forest management. This will fund the fertilization of approximately 8,500 hectares of forests, which is expected to lead to a reduction of 3.7 million tonnes of emissions by 2030. Fertilization promotes healthy forests by increasing nutrients in the soil, which increases growth and extends the life of trees so they can store more carbon.

Additional coverage in the Prince George Citizen, by Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press: B.C. announces $19 million in funding to Forests Ministry to fight climate change

Tracy Robinson and Susan Yurkovich

With Russia’s war in Ukraine, runaway inflation and rising interest rates, analysts and economists speaking at a Council of Forest Industries (COFI) conference Thursday were openly dropping the R word. By the end of this year or early 2023, Europe at least and possibly North America could be in a recession, some are now predicting. That would normally be bad news for Canada’s forestry industry. But demand for new housing is so strong in the U.S. that Paul Jannke, principal for Forest Economic Advisors, said he expects demand for lumber in the U.S. will remain strong, even with an economic contraction due to an “underbuild” of 4 million housing units and aging housing stock “While we have a slowdown, these markets still remain very, very strong,” Jannke said. And the loss of lumber imports from Russia will likely mean increased demand for Canadian lumber in “non-China” Asian countries.

Vancouver, BC: Today, the Honourable Katrine Conroy, BC Minister of Forests made a public challenge at the Council of Forest Industry (COFI) convention calling upon the value-added wood producers, the major tenured forestry companies, and the BC Government to work together to find solutions for the value-added industry. …In response to the provincial government’s ambitious shift in forest policies, British Columbia’s value-added and specialty wood producers have joined together to form an umbrella coalition, the BC Value-Added Wood Coalition, to facilitate government and industry engagement. The Coalition has formed with the goal of providing a more unified and considered voice to assist the government and industry to develop a policy framework that supports the vision of moving from higher volume to higher value wood products. The Coalition represents most of BC’s value-added wood producers and is supported by the three provincial value-added wood industry associations: BC Wood Specialties Group, the Interior Lumber Manufacturers Association, and the Independent Wood Processors Association.

Katrine Conroy

Forests Minister Katrine Conroy’s promises to B.C.’s wood-products producers were more oblique than major commitments in an address to the industry’s main convention Thursday.  They included “redoubling our efforts to support innovation” across the industry to drive the province’s vision to transition to a “high value,” not “high-volume” lumber producer.  She spoke generally about reducing raw log exports, supporting value-added producers and reforming B.C. Timber sales, the Crown corporation that manages 20 per cent of the province’s smaller forest licences. “We fully recognize that B.C. needs a strong primary industry for secondary manufacturers to survive,” Conroy said to an audience of some 750 delegates at the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) convention.  That message didn’t contain specifics, but it was still an important acknowledgment to COFI CEO Susan Yurkovich.  “It’s interesting, there’s this delineation between the primary and the secondary (manufacturers),” Yurkovich said.

Katrine Conroy

Vancouver – Both sides on the issue of old-growth logging in British Columbia are so polarized they “can’t see the forest for the trees,” Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said Thursday.  Conroy told those attending the BC Council of Forest Industries conference that, though old-growth logging has garnered passionate public debate, she believes the views of most residents fall somewhere in the middle of the extremes.  “I think most of us in the province are somewhere in the middle of that topic, and thank goodness for that because government has been very clear on this issue,” she said.  …This comes as the government announced it’s spending $19 million over three years to increase the carbon stored in B.C. forests.  The Forests Ministry said in a news release that $15 million of the funds will be used to fertilize about 8,500 hectares of forests to increase growth rates and extend the life of trees so they can store carbon.