Horgan tells truck loggers he wants to reconnect communities with B.C. forestry industry

Premier John Horgan says the relationship between British Columbia and the forest industry has fractured over outdated government policy that hurts communities and threatens many small business contractors. He told delegates at the Truck Loggers Association’s convention on Thursday that the once solid social contract between the industry, government and communities is in need of repairs. …”We want to try and reconnect the social licence that existed over the decades in B.C.,” he said. Horgan said previous Liberal government policy introduced in 2003 allowed forest companies to ship timber to mills of their choice. The result was industry bypassing communities and small contractors even though the timber is located close to their homes, he said. Horgan said he’s deeply concerned about increases in the export of raw logs from B.C. since the policy changes. “When we see raw log exports… rise from eight per cent in 2003 to 23 per cent last year, that raises questions.