The provincial government is launching a "regionally-driven" process to renew the Interior's forest industry, Premier John Horgan said Friday.
Speaking at the Council of Forest Industries convention in Vancouver, Horgan said he has invited forest company executives to join labour, First Nations and communities to participate in local coalitions to develop "positive and forward-looking visions" for their respective timber supply areas.
"This will be a local process, led by those who are committed to the future of forestry in their regions, and who are willing to do the tough work to create a shared vision of a prosperous, competitive industry," Horgan said in a news release.
The government will also bring forward updates to the Forests and Ranger Practices Act this spring meant, in part, to put a greater emphasis on higher-value products.
The initiative comes after a similar process for the Coastal forest sector was completed in January following six months of consultation with various stakeholders.
Opposition Forest, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations Critic John Rustad accused the government of abdicating its responsibility to lead the way.
"John Horgan has announced that they have basically said 'the government is not going to provide leadership on this, we're putting it out to the companies and it's on you guys to try to figure out how to deal with it," Rustad said from Vancouver.
He said the process differs from that on the Coast in the sense that forest company executives there were told to "reduce log exports or we'll do it for you."
"They had goals that they laid out and tried to force the companies to come forward with solutions," Rustd said. "That's not the case here. What we're seeing here is they've completely voided the field."
Both sides of the legislature appear to agree that the Interior forest industry is facing tough times due to the downfall in timber supply following the accelerated logging of beetle-killed pine, record wildfire seasons, declining lumber prices and penalties imposed on exports to the United States under the Softwood Lumber Agreement.
"All of these things, of course, are creating a real challenge," Rustad said. "Mills are taking some downtime and we've seen some mill closures. And that's going to continue into the future, unfortunately."
Rustad, the Liberal MLA for Nechako Lakes, said he and his party are in the process of developing policy platforms on the issue for the coming election while also looking at ways to get help over the short-term, particularly for operators in his riding.
