VICTORIA – New Democrat Forestry Critic Bob Simpson is calling the Campbell government to account for the growing number of mill closures and curtailments in the forest sector. The most recent announcement will significantly impact the community of Mackenzie, which will see 10 percent of its population lose their jobs in August when Canfor operations there close indefinitely.

“The Campbell government’s sale of B.C. Rail, its failed Forest Revitalization Strategy, its support for the softwood lumber agreement, its lack of a strategic approach to the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic, and its complete inattention to the plight of forest dependent communities is now starting to create a downward spiral for these communities that will be very hard to reverse,” said the MLA from Cariboo North.

Both Canfor’s interim CEO and West Fraser Timber’s CEO have called the current downturn in the forest sector the “worst ever,” and industry analysts are projecting the downturn in the US housing market to last well into 2008. While market conditions are a factor in the recent mill closures, these market conditions were predictable at the time the softwood lumber deal was being finalized, yet the Campbell government still supported saddling the industry with a border tax of between 15 percent and 22.5 percent. The sale of B.C. rail by the Liberals created a CN monopoly which has added significant transportation costs to the forest sector and has resulted in a shortage of rail cars at a time when the industry needs to get product to market in a timely manner, he said.

“B.C. is starting to experience mill closures and curtailments at an accelerated rate and, as a result of the B.C. Liberal’s changes to forest policy in 2003, communities now get very short notice of permanent closures, giving local governments and employees little time to plan for the impacts” said Simpson.

“There are no effective Liberal initiatives in place to support resource dependent communities through what everyone believes will be the toughest times they have ever faced,” said Simpson. “The Campbell government claims that their ‘Community Transition Program’ provides provincial assistance for communities in need, but this program only applies to communities after they have lost a mill and only if the community asks for assistance.

“Once a mill closure announcement is made, property and business values decline, workers start looking elsewhere for work and the community starts into a negative downward cycle. We need to have a program that allows resource dependent communities to engage in substantive socio-economic planning and development now, in advance of this dramatic transition.”