There are many reasons for the crisis in the forest industry. We hear about this all the time: high Canadian dollar, low housing starts in the US and the state of the economy.
However, one topic that is not often discussed in the media is the low key “hands-off” approach by both the provincial and federal government. It is not by chance that they have chosen to not get directly involved until absolutely necessary, and then, only as a reaction.
The guiding philosophy of Campbell’s Liberal Government and Harper’s Conservatives is based on Milton Friedman’s economic guidelines of privatization, deregulation and a pull-out of government involvement – The theory being that the less interference there is from government, the more the market will be able to regulate the problem. This will then bring economic prosperity that will then filter down to the masses.
NAFTA and the proposed Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP) are trade agreements that embody this philosophy. Unfortunately, under NAFTA, we have seen the loss of over 300,000 well-paying manufacturing jobs as well as a free flow of our energy to the US.
Although we are a net exporter of oil, we import up to 90% of our energy needs east of Ottawa while prices for oil and gas continue to skyrocket.
Clearly, something is not right.
The Softwood Lumber Agreement (or, “sell-out” as many like to call it) gave over 1 Billion of our money back to the US. Ironically, some of this Canadian money has gone to the US Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports which effectively used its portion to lobby Congress for more punitive trade actions against Canada. A recent amendment to the US Farm Bill by Senators Max Baucus of Montana and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, backed by the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, will force importers of Canadian lumber to certify to US authorities that appropriate tariffs and duties have been added to the price of exported lumber.
We have seen it in Agriculture and we see it in the lumber industry. The US does not hesitate to look after its farmers and lumber lobby groups even if this means going against existing agreements.
In light of all this, what should we in British Columbia be doing to sustain our communities hit hard by the downturn in the lumber industry? One obvious example would be to stop or decrease the export of raw logs. It is not fair that a Canadian mill exporting lumber to the US has to pay a 15% duty while logs are exported duty-free to US mills which in turn compete with our lumber industry.
According to a column by Paul Wilcocks in the Grand Forks Gazette dated May 28th, the BC Liberals “have basically been spectators as the forest industry unraveled since they were elected”. The government, according to Wilcocks has basically written off the industry, families and communities that depend on it. Using MacKenzie as an example, where 585 will-paid jobs have disappeared, this is the equivalent of 220,000 lay-offs in Greater
Vancouver. Would Gordon Campbell sit back and watch if over 200,000 workers lost their jobs in Vancouver? Probably not!
According to provincial NDP Forest Critic, Bob Simpson, what we are experiencing in our province is a “recorporatization” of our resources whether it is rivers, crown land given to the oil and gas industry or the sell-off of our forests. According to him, there needs to be a different definition of sustainability, and our forests have to be owned by British Columbians. We need a sustainability fund in BC consisting of a transition program to help communities and workers. The $129 Million announced by the provincial government, although a step in the right direction does not go far enough.
I believe that the Minister of Forests, Rich Coleman, should begin discussions immediately with representatives of the United Steelworkers to discuss their 10-point plan for the BC forest industry that involves such measures as, stopping the outflow of raw logs, providing incentives to domestic manufacturers and reforming or abrogating the Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement.
This obviously, should have been done long ago when we started to see a downturn in the forest sector.
It is time for both the federal and provincial governments to accept their responsibility and assist our rural lumber communities to get back on their feet. Sitting back and allowing the market to solve the problem is no longer an option.
Tags: NAFTA, Security and Prosperity Partnership, Softwood Lumber, sustainability