David Coon

The New Brunswick government still hasn’t implemented a two-year-old recommendation to give private woodlot owners a more reliable share of the wood being sold to major forestry mills. Officials from the Department of Energy and Resource Development said staff are “continuing to work” on the recommendation from a 2015 report by Auditor General Kim MacPherson. At the time, the department said it would either comply with the law or suggest that it be changed. “That could be legislative changes, or it may be, if we can figure out a way to approach the legislation that’s there today, it may not be legislative changes,” Assistant Deputy Minister Tom MacFarlane said Tuesday at meeting of the legislature’s public accounts committee. “Neither has happened so far, right?” asked Green Party Leader David Coon. “I think we’re continuing to work on that recommendation,” MacFarlane said. That prompted a laugh from Coon. “Which part?” he asked.