OK, this time we're *really* going create value-added forestry jobs
Plus: A letter from the King, airport delays, and remembering the chopsticks war of 1986
Quote one:
“The Government wants British Columbia to enjoy a vibrant, sustainable, globally competitive forest industry that provides enormous benefits for current and future generations and for strong communities.
…
“The forest industry today looks very different from the industry we remember in our youth. It will continue to change and innovate as we move forward in the 21st Century.
…
“Solid wood and pulp will remain key components, but the future also holds the promise of new products and new services – whether they be bioenergy, bio-chemicals, or new high-value building products. This plan for further manufacturing will help promote a vibrant, sustainable, and globally competitive industry for decades to come.”
Quote two:
“The StrongerBC Economic Plan is delivering support for people in rural British Columbia through a new fund that will diversify local economies, promote value-added innovation in the forestry sector and create thousands of good-paying jobs for British Columbians.
“We need to get more good-paying jobs from our forests and every resource in our province,” said Premier David Eby. “The investments we are making in rural B.C. will help do that by supporting companies to get into the business of creating value-added products, like mass timber. Our whole province benefits when local workers and their families can build good lives in the rural communities they call home.”
…
“Forestry is a foundation of B.C.’s economy,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests. “By driving innovation across the sector, we can ensure more value-added wood products are made in B.C. and create more jobs for every tree harvested. Now is the time to work together to build a stronger, more resilient forestry industry that better works for people and communities.”
Quote two is from yesterday, when premier David Eby and forests minister Bruce Ralston arrived in Prince George and announced the Manufacturing Jobs Fund. But quote one is from fourteen years ago, when then-Premier Gordon Campbell and his forests minister, Pat Bell, unveild their government’s Vision and Action Plan for Further Manufacturing. The announcements, from opposing political parties separated by more than a decade and two other premiers, are remarkably similar. Both tout the need for better forest practices, for innovation and, crucially, to get more value per log from our forests to keep rural communities and the B.C. economy strong.
My point isn’t that it isn’t a good idea now, or that it wasn’t a good idea then. I’m not saying there haven’t been innovations in the forestry sector over the past decade, either. It’s just: We’ve heard this before.
There were announcements that the province would promote manufacturing and value-added jobs in forestry from when Glen Clark was premier in 1998 and from when Christy Clark was premier in 2015. It happened under Dosanjh and Horgan, too. Eby is the latest in a long line of leaders from both sides of the aisle to decide there’s political value in promising that this government will be the one to unlock the hidden value in B.C.’s forestry industry and create long-term, sustainable jobs and communities for years to come, and yet despite every government since forever thinking this would be a great idea, the headlines are still jobs being lost and the need to innovate.
Maybe this time it’ll take. We’ll see.
Hey, remember when Mackenzie had a chopstick factory?
OK, here’s the rest of the news:
Skiers arriving in Prince George to compete at the Nordiq Cup World Championships this week were delayed in their training after Air Canada failed to send their equipment along with them. Races start today.
If you want more opinions on how we got here and what to do about it, here’s former forests minister Pat Bell and Conservation North leader Michelle Connollywith competing thoughts on CBC, and in the Citizen, former president of Northern Forests Products, Greg Jadrzyk says it started when we failed to log quickly enough in the 1990s.
Mayor Simon Yu and Premier David Eby are meeting face-to-face this morning at an undisclosed location due to “safety and privacy concerns.”
A little nugget in this story: Tourism Prince George is considering setting up public tours of Prince George’s downtown renewable energy system, which uses wood waste to heat more than a dozen buildings. I’ve written in this newsletter before that I think having public tours of the industrial and energy sites in and around the city is an untapped opportunity, so, neat!’
We now go to New Brunswick for aerial footage of a moose shaking off its antlers.
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