Stephen Hume: Time to focus on B.C.’s bread and butter

Jun 24, 2016

The provincial government’s grand strategy for revitalizing the coastal forest industry, upon which many communities outside Metro Vancouver are heavily dependent, is adrift and in the doldrums. At least, that appears to be the view of mayors from 27 coastal forestry communities just surveyed by the Truck Loggers Association for its report Community Perspectives on the B.C. Coastal Forest Industry. … There are worries about a hemorrhage of local forestry jobs even as raw log exports — and the jobs they represent — accelerate. Provincial statistics show that exports of whole unprocessed logs have tripled in volume since 2009, most of them bound for Asian markets, where they are processed using cheaper labour.

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