There has been a change in climate in B.C.
There has been a chilling effect on forestry investment because of the unprecedented plethora of damaging forest policies being put into place by the once forestry-worker-friendly government. The most commonly known policy is the deferral of huge tracts of old growth logging which is critical to loggers, sawmillers, pulp mills and communities throughout the Province. In all fairness, successive governments since the 1900’s have dropped the ball in creating an attractive investment climate on publicly owned forests in B.C., but at least they tried.
This year B.C.-based forestry companies invested $10 billion dollars outside of B.C., in a crystal clear signal that the B.C. government has gone tilt on forestry. This includes the true-blue family owned Teal-Jones company which has its forestry roots dating back to the 1800’s. They know investing in B.C. is bad business. It would be better to burn the money, which would at least provide some momentary warmth to the chill. Will this government ever acknowledge its terrible mistake? Nope. Just listen to the pathetic radio ads.
Our once proud forest industry and rural communities have been abandoned by a greening of what use to be an everyday worker’s party, which has been overrun by green activists and virtue-signaling philosophies. They no longer need the forestry worker union votes. It doesn’t matter that the forest industry and the rural communities that depend on it built this great province. As with the Royal BC Museum, the NDP is happy to wipe out our forestry history.
Here’s the crazy part. Forestry is a renewable resource offering the most environmentally-friendly major building products on the planet. For every tree not harvested a building product will instead be made out of steel, concrete or plastic. Or somewhere else on the planet someone will gladly create awesome building products out of trees filling the void that we choose not to, while we sit here on our hands drowning in a sea of trees.
Otto Schulte; retired logger, forester & businessman
Black Creek
