Lobby starts to save northwest
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: November 05, 2009 9:52 AM
A LOCAL non-profit society has started a lobbying campaign to convince the provincial and federal governments to finance a new direction for the region's forest industry.
“The announcement of the shutdown of the Eurocan pulpmill is the “final straw” – we believe it is time for local governments, First Nations, social service organizations, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, and everyone with a stake in our region to provide a clear and consistent message,” says an email being distributed by the Skeena-Nass Center for Innovation in Resource Economics (SNCIRE).
The center is dedicated to steering the region away from the traditional lumber production market by researching and promoting economically and environmentally viable industries using all of the different kinds of wood in the area.
It was formed in January and counts among its board former Terrace mayor Jack Talstra, Terrace city councillor Brad Pollard and John Nester from the Northwest Loggers Association.
The center has set a deadline of today to gather signatures on a letter to be sent to Premier Gordon Campbell and to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Kitimat-located Eurocan, owned by West Fraser, is to close Jan. 31, 2010, putting more than 500 directly employed people and many more indirectly employed people out of work.
The company is citing high production costs and poor markets as primary reasons for closing the 40-year-old facility.
It is the last major operating wood processing facility from Prince Rupert to the Hazeltons – a region in which forestry was once the dominant economic driver.
Forestry activity is now primarily relegated to logging and then shipping logs for use elsewhere in B.C. or for export overseas.
Here is the letter intended for Campbell and Harper that is being circulated by the center:
November 5, 2009
An Open Letter to:
Premier Gordon Campbell
Government of British Columbia
Victoria, BC
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Government of Canada
Ottawa, ON
Re: A Unified Message from the Skeena-Nass Region
The undersigned, as representatives of local governments, First Nations, social service organizations,
economic development organisations, and chambers of commerce, are providing this unified message to
the provincial and federal governments: Provide adequate resourcing to allow us to turn the Skeena-Nass
back into a wealth-making region.
The announcement on October 28, 2009 of the permanent closure of the Eurocan pulp mill in January
2010 will result in the loss of 565 direct and over 1000 indirect jobs in the Skeena-Nass region. Over the
past decade this area has lost 2500 direct and as much as 5000 indirect jobs in the forest sector alone.
This closure of the last wood manufacturing facility in the region shows that the economic model that has
dominated the Skeena-Nass region for the past 60 years no longer works, and that we must all work
together to address the critical issues facing our region:
An over-reliance on commodities like dimension lumber and pulp as our primary products;
Forest policy issues that have been in place for 50 years and need an overhaul;
Needed resources for identifying and marketing the special attributes, competitive advantages
and available resources in the Skeena-Nass Region;
Needed support for development of a diversity of products from the region;
Inadequate resourcing for trying new things and applying new research or ideas on the ground;
Recognition that the region has little capacity for “matched funds” in order to allow us to access
funding from provincial or federal agencies; and
Recognition that funds for “bridging programs” are only effective if there is another “shore”.
We have come together with let you know that it is long past time to change the Provincial and Federal
focus on “bridging”. Instead, we need to see resources put towards “building the other shore”, so that we
know what we are bridging to. You, as representatives of the land owners, need to invest in the Skeena-
Nass region to rethink, reinvent, and recreate the natural resource economy. This needs to occur in co-
operation with the people of our region, because we understand what needs to be done and we are ready
to try new things.
Building the other shore means identifying the additional natural resource opportunities and options that
could exist in the Skeena-Nass region, providing an environment where we can test these opportunities
and then promoting commercialization of those that are successful. Resourcing for this is critical. We
already have people and players coming forward with ideas, but not enough resourcing to act on them.
The Skeena-Nass region has been in an economic crisis since 1997, and has lost as many or more jobs
as other parts of the country that have benefited from large injections of stimulus funds. However, there is
also an opportunity to rebuild and grow a new economy in the Skeena-Nass (the “other shore”).
What we need at a minimum is provision of funding to a locally controlled body, with at least the same
funding as was provided to the mountain pine beetle action committees, with additional incremental funds
to allow for research and application of concepts and ideas on the ground.
Sincerely,
v2
