Despite the softwood lumber dispute and uncertainty over the future of the province’s forest industry, there remains a sense of optimism among the industry’s contractors as they prepare for their annual convention in Victoria this week. …TLA executive director David Elstone said the convention aims to celebrate the industry’s resiliency, even though it can’t answer some of the more pressing questions it currently faces. “I think what’s top of mind and what overrides almost everything is the contractor sustainabiity review,” he said. …The review is designed to improve the competitiveness of forest-sector contractors and strengthen relationships between logging contractors and licensees. “I can’t tell you how much anticipation there is for the report. From a contractor’s perspective, it is undoubtedly the biggest thing to happen to the sector in terms of forest policy since the early 2000s,” he said.
