“We are always looking at ways to make the industry more competitive.”
That’s from BC Council of Forest Industries President and CEO Kim Haakstad ahead of the two-day sector convention taking place at the PG Conference and Civic Centre Thursday and Friday.
Haakstad told Vista Radio finding a few more global trading partners will be one of the keys during the event, due to the current trade unrest between Canada and the United States.
“Today, 75% of our forestry supports go to the United States but the 25% that goes to other jurisdictions such as Asia-Pacific is higher than some of the other forestry jurisdictions in Canada.”
“We are a sector that is facing a lot of challenges right now – not just from the United States but also because we are just not harvesting enough trees to meet the wood demand in British Columbia right now. So, we focus on conversations on what we could here in British Columbia to make our sector more globally competitive.”
In addition, BC’s forest sector has experienced the sharpest Gross Domestic Product contraction when compared to most of its peer regions coming in at a rate of -3.6%.
That’s according to a report from the Council of Forest Industries regarding competitiveness and sustainability when compared to other regions such as North America, South America and Europe.
Haakstad noted the report also raised some additional concerns.
“It shows that we have had a decline in wood harvest and we have had some other challenging circumstances that means we are harvesting less wood. There is a lot of cost built into our system – we are always looking at ways to make the sector more competitive.”
BC’s harvests declined by 6.5% annually from 2013 to 2023, while most peer regions saw stable or growing levels.
Lastly, Haakstad acknowledges the north including Prince George has been among the hardest hit regions when compared to mill closures and curtailments.
“A lot of the challenges that have been faced by forestry by the companies in the Prince George-region and in Northern British Columbia really relate to our access to wood supply to keep those facilities running. And so, the government has committed to work with us on a target to get to 45-million cubic metres as a way to target harvest every year.”
Over 600 delegates are to be in attendance.
Among the program’s speakers will be:
- Honourable David Eby, Premier of BC (invited)
- Honourable Ravi Parmar, BC Minister of Forests
- Regional Chief Terry Teegee, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
- John Rustad, Leader of the Official Opposition, MLA for Nechako Lakes
- Chief Councillor John Jack, Huu-ay-aht First Nations
- Glen Clark, Chair, BC Hydro and Former Premier of BC
- James Moore, Senior Advisor Edelman, former Federal Minister of Industry
- Kate Lindsay, Senior Vice President & Chief Sustainability Office, Forest Products Association of Canada
- Lennard Joe, CEO, BC First Nations Forestry Council
- Kathy Aubsow, President and CEO, Sustainable Forestry Initiative
- John Kitzhaber, Former Governor of the State of Oregon
- Lisa Dominato, Councillor, City of Vancouver
- George Abbott, BC Treaty Commissioner and Former BC Cabinet Minister
- Jennifer Gunter, Executive Director, BC Community Forest Association
- Kim Haakstad, President & CEO, COFI
A link to the full agenda can be found here.
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