Premier Sets Stage for Day Long Session On Forestry and Climate Change

Friday, February 15, 2008 09:40 AM

Premier Campbell and Forestry Minister Rich Coleman share notes before symposium.

Prince George, B.C. - It’s not just the pine beetle, it’s not just the dollar, or the slumping housing market in the United States that is forcing the forestry industry into a difficult time, says Premier Gordon Campbell.

In hisopeneing remarks to a special sector symposium to talk about climate change, the Premier wanted to recognize the industry "I want to emphasize how important the forest industry is to us not just as an economic driver, but as a social base."

With those words, the Premier started to set the stage for a day long session with forestry stakeholders.

Campbell says a number of steps have been taken together to move forward, "When we talk about climate change, we are talking about the opportunities that will be presented."

"We have to think about how the industry will change to take advantage of the new value streams that will be there."

He mentioned the opportunity to be carbon neutral especially with the opportuity to use the mountain pine beetle trees.

He said one of the questions that will be asked at the round table sessions will be what are all the values that can be reaped from the forest, how do we capture those values together?"

"We already have a forest industry that’s a world leader in third party certification, 53 million hectares already certified, i think that’s a market advantage for us. We have to move toward a quality based product, and we have to expand our markets, we’ve already seen a significant increase in our exports to China, but granted it was on a small base.

The Premier says he wants to hear if there are regulations which are acting as barriers to the industry .

"T he single largest alie we have in battling climate change, is our forest." Granted, the Premier says the changing temperatures mean we may be changing the kind of trees we plant. "We have to plant for the future, not just for today."

"One of the messages I would bring to this room, is that the issues of mitigation are upon us. Everyone agrees we want to be a more productive industry, a more competitive industry and a sustainable industry. We have to work together to do that."

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Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008 09:40 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: northman on February 15 2008 10:03 AM

"It's not just the pine beetle, it's not just the dollar, or the slumping housing market in the United States that is forcing the forestry industry into a difficult time, says Premier Gordon Campbell."

-He forgot to mention.. Government!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 15 2008 10:05 AM

Oh boy,here we go...more "round table" discussions and politicians telling us here in the north what we already knew!
And if they hadn't have got their information from people in the northern parts of B.C.,they wouldn't even have anything to say!

Posted by: Betterday on February 15 2008 10:17 AM

This is great!
All I always hear from these posts is that "Victoria" is not listening to the north. Well here we have the premier of our province in our community to listen to not only our concerns but also the ideas we see as solutions.
Keep up the good work Premier.

Posted by: kevin1006 on February 15 2008 10:29 AM

Campbell... lap dog of the forestry industries.

And the only reason clear cutting the land from sun up to sun down is still such a dominate part of the land scape is because the people living there are still products of the 19th century in attitude and values. The only thing missing in the north is creative, forward thinking people that are not on auto pilot, not looking upon the forest thinking, "ahhh, how can we extract money by destroying it...?" Backward thinking will lead to just more of the same, more bust and boom job creation, more endangered Salmon runs, etc. When people still have no understanding of what "sustainable" means I have little hope (hint: it is not sustainable to cut down a 50 year old tree to make a roll of toilet paper).

Campbell's real purpose is to make a small handful of rich people even richer and how he goes about it is predicated on how well he can manipulate the public into believing it's for them. The idea of sustainability and what's best for the land is last on the list... it always is.

Posted by: northman on February 15 2008 10:33 AM

Betterday.. Thats only because victoria is starting to feel the pinch with the problems in the forest industry.. When the revenue was flowing steady to victoria they paid little attention to the north. And yes it is good to see the premier here but his visits shouldnt be motivatied by a crisis.. Ex) The ice jam, and the dying forest industry. Basically what im trying to say is he should be here more often to get a first hand look no matter what is happening regarless if the economy is good or bad.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 15 2008 10:49 AM

On the money northman!
And Campbell isn't kidding anybody!

Posted by: seamutt on February 15 2008 2:35 PM

Man caused climate change. Hang onto to your wallets here comes carbon tax, based on ncomplete science. Check out these two websites and the links provided in them. Did you know that Al Gore is so worried about sea level rise that he just bought a new condo on the Miami waterfront!Heres the websites--icecap.us and checkout accuweather.com. Scan over to the left side column, go down to monthly features, in concerned about global warming

Posted by: seamutt on February 15 2008 2:37 PM

Sorry messed up my post- click on global warming blog in concerned about global warming.

Posted by: northman on February 15 2008 5:09 PM

Carbon Tax.. A.K.A olympic payment plan. Wouldnt surprise me how bout the rest of you?

Posted by: socredible on February 15 2008 9:46 PM

Sounds about right to me, northman. We'll be paying for that steroid circus until we all melt. There'll never be any 'leadership' on anything from Gordon Campbell. He's just another global groupie.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 15 2008 10:26 PM

Sounds right to me too northman!
In fact,I have been expecting something like that.
The liberals under Campbell are spending LOTS of our money, but it is what they are spending it on that scares the hell out of me!

Posted by: pulpworker on February 16 2008 8:49 AM

Want my vote? Ban raw log exports and open pen salmon farms. The majority of the BC public share this view, run with that, win an election?

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 16 2008 1:12 PM

You are right pulpworker, but unfortunately,the government is NOT listening to the people in this province!
We do not need open pen salmon farms OR raw log exports and they have been told that many times.
They are both destructive to the province.
But to the Liberals,it converts to votes and probably donations from the forest companies as well.
To Campbell,big business is his god and no matter what he and his gang say,thats what the deciding factor will always be!
The really sad part is that there are no other options out there that would do it any better!
We have been there and tried that!

Posted by: caranmacil on February 16 2008 4:30 PM

I , for one, dont care if i see gordon campbell here once per year or once per decade. Surely he doesnt have to fly in here, shake some hands and eat some food to know what is going on here. How does visiting inform him anyway. I think showing up here is like sending your wife a valentine: a show. If you love your wife she should know it without the card. If the govt. is concerned about our welfare, we should know it without a visit.
I am sorry to say that i am one of those people who dont feel the govt gives much of a damn about us. I understand that we are few but there were promises made to us that are not being fulfilled. It is up to us to remind the govt. of this as often as necessary.

Posted by: socredible on February 16 2008 9:24 PM

Gordo is a global groupie. The shock and awe, slash and save ideas he wished on us on first taking office were taken straight from Roger Douglas, New Zealand's finance minister. Who took that country's standard of living from 3rd in the world to 23rd, at last count, and still dropping.

And now this screwball 'carbon tax' nonsense is derived straight from Al Gore. Who Americans, regardless of their other collective failings, still had a majority exhibiting enough brains NOT to make the President.

The whole problem with Gordo is, he's incapble of thinking originally. He's NOT a WAC Bennett. And he doesn't think things right through. "Tax cuts DO work" ~ but only if they're implemented in a way that actually benefits the people they're supposed to benefit. And not just a charade of giving with one hand, and taking back more with the other.

Same with the 'environment'. If we want to clean it up, then clean it up. We don't need more downtown Vancouver office towers overflowing with 'carbon credit' traders trying to get rich quick while the rest of us cause more greenhouse gases in our efforts to keep them as well as ourselves.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 17 2008 5:11 PM

Also keep in mind that Campbell has to fight one more election before the Olympics(yes,there's those Olympics again..)and he isn't exactly Mr.Popularity as much as he would like to think he is!
The B.C. Forest Industry,among other things, is going to take one hell of a beating over the next couple of years so Campbell will be doing a lot of glad handing to try and ensure that he will be on the center stage when the big event happens.He wants that so bad he can taste it.
He KNOWS what will happen to him when the bill come due after 2010.
So in a way, that may be a bonus for forestry workers in trouble.
And your right socredible..Campbell never had an original thought in his life and he is hell bent on proving that.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 17 2008 5:16 PM

Also keep in mind that Campbell has to fight one more election before the Olympics(yes,there's those Olympics again..)and he isn't exactly Mr.Popularity as much as he would like to think he is!
The B.C. Forest Industry,among other things, is going to take one hell of a beating over the next couple of years, so Campbell will be doing a lot of glad handing to try and ensure that he will be on the center stage when the big event happens.He wants that so bad he can taste it.
He KNOWS what will happen to him when the bill come due after 2010.
So in a way, that may be a bonus for forestry workers in trouble.
And your right socredible..Campbell never had an original thought in his life and he is hell bent on proving that.
Nothing more than a pawn of big business!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 17 2008 5:17 PM

oops....theres an echo in here!