Forestry Remains Cornerstone of B.C. Economy says Study
Prince George, B.C. – A new study for the Council of Forest Industries, shows B.C.’s economic roots are in forestry.
According to the study, conducted by PwC. one in every 4 manufacturing jobs in B.C. is in forestry, and 1 in every 17 jobs in the province is connected to forestry.
That’s more than 140 thousand jobs province wide, generating more than $8.5 billion dollars in wages while forestry operations contribute $4.1 billion in payments to all levels of government.
The export of B.C. wood products accounted for 34% of all products exported from B.C.
“This economic report confirms that the forest sector continues to be a cornerstone of the provincial economy and one of the largest employers in the province” says COFI President and CEO Susan Yurkovich “B.C.’s forest sector, and the families and communities across our province who are a part of it, contribute immeasurably to our quality of life in British Columbia. While our industry is facing a number of challenges, we are continuing to invest, innovate and diversify both our products and our markets to ensure that we can continue to be an economic engine in the province for generations to come.”
As 250News reported previously, ( see previous story) the industry is not without challenges, including the ongoing softwood lumber trade dispute with the U.S., rising costs and the devastating impacts on fibre supply from both this summer’s wildfires and the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. COFI says it will take continued work with all levels of government to ensure forestry remains a strong economic driver in B.C.
Comments
Biggest problem with forestry in BC is monopoly capitalism having control of all access to fiber in the province. We are all slaves to the monoply capital forestry operations that now call all the shots. Solve this and the softwood lumber irritant with the Americans solves itself IMO.
Biggest problem in the forest industry is the export of raw logs. There are two sawmills idled on the island for lack of wood while logs loaded onto ships sail on past and off to mills overseas. Every log exported is a loss to the people of this province in terms of jobs, business and revenue. Each log provides wood to sawmills, chips to pulpmills,feedstock to wood pellet plants and hog fuel to cogeneration plants. Every one of those industries adds value to the supply chain and jobs to communities.
The NDP started this program in the 90,s allowing export of excess logs. When the Liberals ended appurtenancy in the province and smaller and less profitable sawmills closed, all of a sudden there was plenty of “excess”logs available for export and it’s continually expanded ever since. This past year the province exports over 500,000 cubic metres of usable wood every damn month. That’s about 10% of the provincial AAC. This is criminal beyond words. The NDP campaigned on addressing this issue and it’s time they started to!!!
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