Opinion: Bob Williams

There was a time when securing a good-paying forestry job in B.C. was not just an option but an expectation for many. This was a time when the provincial government took an active role in managing our public forests and overseeing the activities of private companies whose workers cut trees, milled wood and made pulp. …B.C.’s forest industry today is a shadow of what it was in the post-war period. But it doesn’t have to be this way. I believe from my five decades experience with the industry, including as minister of forests in the Dave Barrett government, that a better way is possible. A system of regional-based forestry would best serve British Columbians, our forests and forestry-dependent communities. …Right now we have an industry that for the most part is in the cheap commodity lumber business. We have pretended… that we get full value for our trees.