Special report: Old-growth deferrals, tenure changes will devastate an already ailing industry, critics say
By Nelson Bennett | December 14, 2021 - biv.com
Underlying the John Horgan government’s sweeping reforms to forestry are some laudable goals: saving stands of at-risk old growth, taking steps toward First Nation reconciliation, protecting caribou and addressing a long-term decline in B.C.’s timber supply.
But these reforms will cost B.C. between 4,500 and 12,000 jobs – depending on whose estimates you believe – and accelerate a flight of capital that has already seen B.C.’s forestry majors buying up sawmills in the U.S., Europe and Eastern Canada, while shuttering sawmills and pulp mills in B.C.