Liberal Party leader Andrew Wilkinson made a stop in Merritt on Friday, with the main topic being revitalizing the forestry industry.
He was joined at the podium at Home Hardware by Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart, who is looking to secure another term come the election later this month.
“People in our communities are looking for some hope, and some confidence in getting business back,” began Tegart. “It’s been a tough year for everyone, and we’re all feeling the impact.”
She went on to say, however, that even before COVID-19 ravaged the economy, our forest industry has been facing “unprecedented challenges.”
“We’ve all been waiting for help by the NDP. When someone makes a commitment, they need to honour their words.”
It was around three years ago that Premier John Horgan visited the Tolko mill and announced that there would never be a mill closure under an NDP government. There have been 45 closures of mills since then, twelve that are permanent.
Wilkinson then came to the podium to announce what his plans would be for the forestry industry if he was elected Premier.
“10,000 jobs have been lost,” said Wilkinson. “We’re all concerned about the future of our forestry industry generally. We have to be clear: in the Interior, the forestry industry matters.”
Wilkinson announced a number of campaign promises that he says he would fulfill in his first year in office: firstly, a more “efficient, market-based” system for stumpage fees.
He went on to criticize the NDP for only having revisions to the fees annually.
“It does not work for British Columbia. It does not have to be that way. We’ve been asking this for three years, and the NDP have ignored it.”
Alberta has for some time been adjusting their stumpage fees annually.
“For some reason the NDP have locked us in to this annual revision of stumpage. That means there are huge lags and delays when the price of lumber goes up and down, and that means that the prices of stumpage are inappropriate. It’s just way off the market price. So that can be improved.”
Wilkinson also promised to end the NDP’s obstruction program for the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
“Permanent projects should not be blocked by protestors….there are ways to deal with that, they can use the courts to try and get a judicial review of the project. Having the courts ignored and having chaos in British Columbia is simply not acceptable.
“We have a very effective and reliable judicial system in this country and the rulings of the courts need to be respected. That’s the bottom line.”
He also said that under his command there would be increased investments in reforestation.
“We need to massively expand tree planting in British Columbia. Not only for the benefit of the forest industry, but also to reduce our greenhouse gas production.”
Without getting into too much detail, Wilkinson said that his government would introduce new legislation to protect the working forest, hoping to bring back some certainty to BC’s forestry industry.
“The forestry industry needs to know that there is a future.”
He also said that his team has a slate of ideas for assisting the mining industry in BC.
“Things need to move faster, and decisions need to actually get made. We need to support all of our resource industries.”
