Prince George, B.C. – Premier Gordon Campbell has reinforced  a provincial commitment to the forest industry promising funding for Mackenzie and Ft St James.  

 

In his address to the North Central Municipal Association , Campbell said the province will work towards having a vital, sustainable, productive forest industry “Forestry is B.C.’s future, it has been and always will be.”

 

To start that, there will be $2 million dollars given to Mackenzie and to Fort St. James, the two communities which have been hit very hard by the downturn in the forestry industry. That funding will be in place and accessible next week.

 

In order to get the industry back on its feet, Campbell talked about changing our products, from dimension lumber to products like; landscape ties or engineered trusses.

 

While he is confident that growth will eventually revive the industry and diversify markets, he says it won’t take place tomorrow.

 

The Premier then re-announced the big picture of the funding he had announced in Kamloops earlier today at the Interior Logging Association. That is the 12

 

A new tuition program that will give workers up to $5 thousand dollars to put towards tuition,   $85.5 million towards transitional assistance to bridge time for older . The balance will be 26 .25 mill for job opportunities and that is the pot the communities of Mackenzie and Ft St James will get their funding.

 

Mackenzie Mayor Stephanie Killam  is thrilled, "This is the result of all the hard work we have done"  She had been concerned there were too many workers who would fall through the cracks because they aren't old enough to move towards retirement.  Killam says  there are no  specific projects in mind, but she has been committed to  doing whatever is possibe to maintain her community and hold on to the  skilled workers "Without human resources, there is no resource extraction and no tax dolars."