Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

How Big is Too Big?

By Ben Meisner

We are told that in order to survive in today's the world economy , corporations must continue to become larger in order to compete on the world stage. 

Case in point is Canfor who have been saying since they swallowed up Northwood that they needed to get bigger in order to survive. 

But wait a minute, what about the small mills such as Carrier, Dunkley, Winton, or a half dozen other little players who have withstood the tariffs, and as a matter of fact, have been competing without any problem?

The truth of the matter is that if you are big enough you can wield a very big stick and you can have your way around the halls of power and they use that hammer every day. 

Have we reaped some sort of benefit in Canfor that I have somehow missed?  The little guys have created the competition but eat them up and where does the industry go? 

Head out west and look at yet another Mega giant, Alcan.  If citizens of B.C. were receiving at least a fare share of the water benefits from the diversion of the Nechako River, it would amount to around 1 billion dollars every ten years. 

On one hand, we have a company that was granted the rights for peanuts and on the other side of the table, a government that has been reluctant to play hard ball for fear that the Mega Corporation may spread the word around that BC is a poor place to do business. 

The biggest sham of all however is the petroleum industry.  We were told way back when, that, at $40 dollars a barrel, the tar sands could be an economic boom. The petroleum companies could make a handsome profit at that figure and so what has changed? That was the cut off where suddenly Canadians could get all the gasoline they wanted at a price set by Canadians. 

However,the world over, the petroleum industry is being held hostage by a few major players. 

We know that the US went to Iraq out of fear for the petroleum industry. 

We suddenly have become popular on the world stage because of the tar sands and yet we are being gouged at the pumps on a daily basis. 

To somehow suggest that the price of gasoline had to increase by $1.20 a gallon in a few short weeks is just rubbish. It is a symptom that we have allowed mega companies to seize control of our assets and set the price and standards under which we operate..

It is a pity that while we say we own our natural resources, we do anything but. 

I’m Meisner, and that, is one man’s opinion .



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