BC NDP Premier John Horgan is wondering why forestry companies are closing and leaving the country. “Figure it out John, because you are hurting families”

Since April 1^st there have been nearly 50 announcements from the Office of the Premier.

John Horgan has made sure to have some kind of message for every conceivable holiday and festival ... for racial discrimination ... multiculturalism ... D-Day ... Emergency Preparedness ... the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman and Girls ... the Confidence and Supply Agreement signed with the Green Party.

BC NDP Premier John Horgan

The Premiers Office has also released media stories about gas prices ... steel and aluminum tariffs ... wild salmon day ... protection for LBGTQ ... Money laundering ... schools and classrooms ... money for daycare expansion ... transportation ... Earth Day ... the Alberta election results ... Caribou engagement consultations ... ferry improvements ... and of course income taxes. 

FIFTY ANNOUNCEMENTS! ... but what about anything to do with regards to the current state of BC’s forest industry?

There has been JUST ONE media release, specifically from the Office of NDP Premier John Horgan, having anything to say with regards to concerns or plans about job losses in the forest industry.

That was back on April 5^th (OVER TWO MONTHS AGO) when he said that the British Columbia government was going to be launching a regionally driven renewal of the province’s Interior forest industry, aimed at developing a competitive, sustainable future for forest companies, workers and communities.

This during a speech to the Council of Forest Industries (COFI), where Horgan said he had already written to Interior forest companies, inviting them to lead the process with government and to partner with labour leaders, First Nations and communities to ... chart a sustainable path forward.

“Enhancing competitiveness for our forest industry means shifting some production from high volume to high value,” Premier Horgan said. “It’s a step forward that we all must take if we want a future defined by opportunity and sustainability.”

In the two and a half months since, numerous mills have closed in several communities, with NO commitments on when they’ll be re-opening .... shifts have been curtailed ... and other sawmills have announced their doors will be shuttered forever.

According to the BC Liberals, the latest round of shift curtailments by Canfor means that operations at all but one of its sawmill operations will cease, adding to the growing list of painful mill slowdowns and shutdowns recently announced in just the past few weeks.

“John Horgan and the NDP have made us the last place a company would want

Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad

to invest in, under their watch, as B.C. has become the jurisdiction with the highest production costs in North America,” said Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Critic and Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad.

“Canfor is not announcing similar reductions to any of its operations elsewhere in Canada or the U.S. (which) just goes to show B.C. is no longer competitive under the NDP.”

Meantime Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson commented that, “To date, the John Horgan government has thrown its hands up and told forest-dependent communities there is nothing it can do to help them. This is failed leadership on the part of John Horgan – plain and simple. Hard-working BC families need help and they need it now.”

On social media, Doug Clovechok (MLA for Columbia River – Revelstoke) has commented that John Horgan is wondering why Forestry companies are closing and leaving the country.

“Figure it out John, because you are hurting families” he continued.

Again, looking to the Liberals critic for Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources, John Rustad, he left no uncertainty as to where he laid the blame for the economic woes hammering the forest industry;

“John Horgan needs to hold himself accountable, stop making excuses and stop the job losses in this province.  At a time when forestry workers across the province should be hard at work, instead they are facing job losses and no paycheques.”

Since the beginning of this year, there have been at least 88 weeks of operational downtime announced at various mill operations in our province ... as well as two permanent closures, significant shift reductions and hundreds of millions of board feet curtailed. 

One of the reasons for that, according to Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo is due to the high costs of doing business in BC. High fuel costs and increasing tax burdens deny the forest industry the ability to compete on a global market. 

Here in my home riding of Kamloops South Thompson, MLA Todd Stone was clear on where he stood in laying blame for the forestry crisis.

“BC’s forestry industry is in crisis as mills close and job losses increase due to John Horgan and the NDP’s increased taxes, red tape, and creation of so much uncertainty on the land base”.

Quest Wood Sawmill in Quesnel - set to close in August

Stone continued, “John Horgan and the NDP are missing in action with respect to the crisis in B.C.’s forestry industry ... (and needs to) take a series of immediate actions including supports for impacted workers and communities, reductions in stumpage fees and carbon tax on the forestry sector, and leadership engaging the U.S. to secure a new B.C. softwood deal.”

“We have put tangible ideas on the table to help stem the flow of job loss in this province’ and so far, John Horgan and his incompetent Forests minister choose to do nothing”, said Rustad before continuing:

“Workers, families, contractors and communities need help to get through these tough times for our forest sector. Thousands of people have already lost their jobs and thousands more have temporary losses.”

Little wonder then that Rustad has asked the one important question government seems unable to answer, “What will it take before Horgan’s NDP will take actions to help?”