Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty is hoping 2019 is a better year than 2018 in more ways than one.
At the federal level, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau not balancing the budget is something Doherty described as a “major failure”. Meanwhile, closer to the local level, he noted the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or NAFTA 2.0, and it not bringing Canada closer a softwood lumber agreement.
“We are a forestry-based region, we are a natural resources-based economy. The unfair duties and tariffs that have been placed on our forestry producers just compound that insult to injury to the fact that we’re working harder and going further to try and get the fibre and get it to market,” he explained, referring to the issue as a war on our natural resource sector.
“Our fibre supply is getting decimated, it’s getting harder for our forestry companies to be able to compete and to be able to source their fibre. The government hasn’t been able to secure any consistent rail access for our forestry producers.”
It was not all bad for Doherty in 2018, however. He was able to pass Bill C-211 which he hopes will save lives dealing with post-traumatic stress.