Prince George, B.C. -   About 100 people turned out to CNC tonight to what was labeled a town hall meeting  to talk about forest communities in crisis.

 

The audience, mostly made up of New Democrat candidate supporters and union reps, heard Steve Hunt , Director of District 3 for the United Steelworkers say 25,000 jobs in forestry have been lost over the past 8 years because of the policies of the Gordon Campbell Government. 

 

He talked about appurtenancy , the practice of tying the logs to a mill in the community,  disappearing  under the Liberal reign.   He called on those in attendance to help, “If we let things to keep on going we will be the first generation to leave our society in worse shape than what we inherited.”   He called on the attendees to stand up and challenge the Liberal candidates and tell them that what they’re doing is wrong.

 

Jim Britain, Vice President of the Communications Energy and Paper Workers union says   his union conducted a poll and found 61% of respondents said Gordon Campbell has done a very poor job when it comes to dealing with forestry. “For every forestry job lost in this province, four other jobs are lost” said Britain. He told the gathering that the crisis facing forestry workers is not a union issues “it’s a people issue.”

 

B.C Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair   described forestry in B.C. as the economic vein that has kept the province running. He called for a change in policy so that companies have to commit to processing logs in B.C. or they lose the right to cut the tree in the first place. He reiterated the need for a return to appurtenancy ( click here for video clip) and then called  on the audience to help bring about change, to help knock on doors for the New Democrat candidates.

 

“I agree with Gordon Campbell that B.C is the best place on earth to live” said Sinclair, “But it’s not the best pace when you make 6 bucks an hour, and its not the best place if you’ve lost your job and you can’t pay your bills.”