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FIREWORKS IN THE BC LEGISLATURE YESTERDAY AS CONSERVATIVE MLA WARD STAMER HANDS NDP FOREST MINISTER RAVI PARMAR A BEAT-DOWN

The following is taken from the Hansard Blues, Legislative Assembly Draft Report of Debates, the Honourable Raj Chouhan, Speaker

Wednesday afternoon, December 3rd, 2025

 

Ward Stamer: I’d first like to start by acknowledging the devastating news of the Crofton pulp mill’s announcement to shut down, and how hard it must be on the workers and residents in Crofton and the surrounding areas.

I was in Barriere in 2003 when our large sawmill was destroyed. That was a wildfire. This is a five-alarm dumpster fire. The Crofton Mill has operated for almost 70 years through thick and thin, good times and bad. And now it’s closing on this Forest Minister’s watch. And no, this wasn’t Trump’s tariffs or his fault. The Crofton Mill has minimal market sales in the United States.

The Forest Minister, in his own words, has said: “Gut-wrenching. Lives disrupted. No fault of their own. Painful. Unfair moment. Deserve better.” They sure do. They sure do. We also hear: “We’re working on it. It’s Trump’s fault. The feds aren’t doing enough.”

The minister said we will continue to fight for workers and their paycheques, and then he hands out hundreds of pink slips. Four mills in four weeks have closed in BC. Thousands of families have been negatively impacted and communities have been torn apart. When is this Forest Minister going to stop the bleeding?

Hon. Ravi Parmar: The announcement yesterday by Domtar that they are closing the Crofton facility was devastating news for workers. Just gut-punching for workers, for families and all those that make up the Cowichan Valley region. People who have held this mill together for decades, people who have worked generation after generation after generation at this facility.

To all the workers that were impacted, that received notice of this yesterday, I want them to know how sorry I am they got that news. I want them to know that this was a painful, unfair moment and that I’m sorry that their lives are being disrupted through no fault of their own. The BC forest sector is facing significant challenges, but we also know that it’s not just British Columbia. Forest sectors across Canada.

I want them to know that this was a painful, unfair moment and that I’m sorry that their lives are being disrupted, through no fault of their own.

BC’s forest sector is facing significant challenges, but we also know that it’s not just British Columbia. Forest sectors across Canada and around the world are facing significant challenges.

We have volatile markets. We have low pulp prices, shrinking fibre, climate-driven wildfires, conservation measures, as well as punishing Trump duties and tariffs.

None of that softens the news that was announced by Domtar. But I want the members opposite to know, and most importantly, I want those workers in Crofton and throughout the Cowichan Valley to know that we are going to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to be able to ensure that that site, that facility, has every ability to explore opportunities to ensure that it can produce good-paying, family-supporting forestry jobs.

The Speaker: Member has a supplemental.

Ward Stamer: I’ve read the minister’s announcement yesterday.

The forest industry and the experts have been very specific on what needs to be done, and totally within this Forest Minister’s authority: streamlining wood fibre access, faster permits and approvals, reducing operating and administration costs, and fix BCTS.

None of this has happened under this Forest Minister’s watch. When is this Forest Minister going to do what everyone in this industry has been asking, pleading, yelling for before another mill shuts down?

Hon. Ravi Parmar: Thanks very much to the member opposite for the question.

The member opposite has noted significant challenges facing our forest sector right now and as I’ve noted, volatile markets, a complete collapse of the U.S. housing demand. We’ve noted low pulp prices, low lumber prices but also the punishing tariffs and duties from Donald Trump as well.

There is an opportunity before us. We have inherited a sector that for decades has been boom and bust, where we have seen mills, like the one in Crofton, curtail and close and other parts of the province. We have seen that for decades.

We have an opportunity on this side of the House, a commitment to not only the workers in Crofton but to every forestry worker directly and indirectly in British Columbia to work together to stabilize this sector and to transform it so no worker is put in this position ever again.

 

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