The B.C. government is changing the rules for timber licences, requiring provincial permission for companies to trade or dispose of cutting rights.
Forests Minister Doug Donaldson to the Forest Act Thursday to restrict companies鈥� ability to trade or sell Crown timber licences, to 鈥減revent further concentration of harvesting rights.鈥� The change is part of Premier John Horgan鈥檚 promised revitalization of the forest industry, which has seen forest companies consolidate and close sawmills.
鈥淭o approve the transfer, we will first want to understand how it will help the people in British Columbia and encourage diversity in the forest sector,鈥� Donaldson told the legislature.
Premier describes his new approach to the forest industry
鈥� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
One of those transfers took place in 2014, in the wake of reduced timber supply caused by widespread mountain pine beetle infestation in the B.C. Interior. West Fraser Mills closed its high-volume sawmill at Houston and Canfor shut down its Quesnel mill, as harvestable dead wood diminished.
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The two companies traded timber cutting rights to keep one mill supplied in each region.
Donaldson said a key part of the strategy is to provide more economic opportunity for Indigenous communities.
On the B.C. Coast, the historic concentration of cutting rights in the hands of a few big players has been focus for the Truck Loggers鈥� Association, as logging contractors struggle to remain viable in a market battered by mill closures, U.S. border tariffs and swings in demand from Asian buyers.
鈥淲e want all British Columbians to benefit from the forest industry, large and small, first nations, workers and communities,鈥� Donaldson said. 鈥淭he previous legislation governing disposition of crown tenures limited government鈥檚 influence.鈥�
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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