NDP Forestry critic Bob Simpson along with M.L.A. for Yale - Lilooet Harry Lali made a tour through the Similkameen last week to promote the unveiling of the party’s proposal for restoring the struggling forest industry in the BC interior.

“The Asian markets are not interested in anything but raw materials from B.C.,” Simpson said recently. “The Liberal’s ideas to increase wood use in B.C - increasing the height of wood frame buildings to six storeys, for instance - was done without consultation with structural engineers.”

Simpson says that the government’s talk of billions being invested in forestry does not consist of new money being injected into the industry, rather it is existing money being recycled through mill sales.

Tenure reform is necessary in order to return the forests to the people of the province, Simpson added.

“When Weyerhaeuser sold their Kamloops mill, there was no notice of the sale of their land tenures until the day the sale was announced,” he said. “Without any public say over timber that belongs to the citizens of this province, that wood is being trucked to Hundred Mile House and Williams Lake.”

The present forestry business model - to supply dimensional lumber in high volume to the U.S. market - has no future, as the recent market problems in the U.S. have dried up demand for new housing.

“It’s going to take until 2011 just to absorb the present market,” Simpson said. “Mills in B.C are no longer designed to adapt to what the market needs - they are rigid in terms of the type of fibre coming in and the type of product coming out.”

Simpson said he was tired of the rhetoric that seemed to be a major part of the present government’s approach to forestry.

“Saying that he sees signs of recovery, that he doesn’t see any more mill closures is simply ‘boosterism’,” Simpson said of statements made recently by Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell. “ It’s a poor substitute for leadership.”

The NDP recently released a five point program designed to rebuild the forest industry in B.C. The strategy is based on what they see as the most effective use of fibre in the province, based upon current and future realities of the industry.

The NDP Five Point Plan

P I. Create a Green Plan for B.C.’s Forests

1. Undertake a comprehensive provincial forest resource inventory.

i. Update current forest health and timber supply projections and models to include all pests, diseases, value constraints and other forest threats.

ii. Update Timber Supply Area data.

iii. Develop and implement an old growth strategy for Vancouver Island and the Coast.

2. Increase resources to the Chief Forester’s Future Forest Ecosystems Initiative to support adapting forest Continued on page A15