North Island MLA, Claire Trevena, says she’s listening to the concerns of the forest industry.
This comes in the wake of yesterday’s B.C. Forestry Alliance rally in Victoria.
Forestry workers and supporters gathered outside the BC Parliament building. They were calling on the government to defend the harvestable land base.
A large convoy of logging trucks travelled south to Victoria, to deliver the Working Forest Petition to the NDP government and, the Alliance says, “raise awareness of the importance of forestry to our communities.”
The Alliance says that forestry has and continues to be the No. 1 driver in B.C. and creates the stability and prosperity from which the entire province benefits.
READ MORE: Rally calls for ‘Working Forest’ to protect B.C. forestry industry
Trevena said she went out to the lawns of the legislature to speak with a few people at the rally.
“Obviously their message is being heard,” Trevena said. “We know that forestry is vital for not just communities but for the economic health of the province, and we continue to work to try and make sure that it is viable.”
She pointed to the Coast Forest Sector Revitalization Initiative, and the $5-million Coast Logging Equipment Support Trust designed to help contractors avert foreclosure of logging equipment on the coast, as examples of what the province is doing to support the sector.
Trevena said forestry is “still foundational” to B.C.’s economy.
However, she said the sector does face challenges across B.C.: “In the (B.C.) interior, there are very different challenges. In the interior we have pine beetles, on the coast, we have the challenges of having had the (coastal forestry workers) strike, of how the actual system works, and then we get calls for, ‘Are we going to change the tenure system?’ and, ‘How we are going to ensure that we are looking after everybody’s values?’ but we are really working very hard.”
She said the province has an old-growth strategy mandate looking at how the province can ensure that it has a healthy forest.
“The minister of forests has set up a panel to hear people’s perspectives on the importance of old-growth and that panel is going to be reporting back later this spring,” Trevena said.
