The provincial government should provide the District of Houston-owned Dungate Community Forest with more wood, says the independent MLA for Nechako-Lakes.
Community forests such as Dungate not only provide local control over wood they also bring a measure of economic stability, said John Rustad.
“There’s tremendous value for that revenue to stay in the communities,” he said of income from community forests.
“I just think they are a natural fit for a community,” he added of their ability to respond to local issues surrounding wildlife and recreational values.
Dungate has spent years seeking additional wood from the provincial government, saying it can offer value not only in logging but in enhancing outdoor recreational opportunities, a factor which has become a focus of the District and others in building a tourism industry.
The province has, however, rebuffed the Dungate proposal, repeatedly said all of the timber available within the area has already been spoken for.
Rustad questions that response, saying there is wood available but that the province is keeping quantities in reserve until it first settles the matter of First Nations title.
“Until that happens it just can’t happen,” he said of the need to settle First Nations title. “It can be done. It needs to be done.”
If anything, Rustad said settling First Nations title will increase forest-based economic opportunities by removing uncertainty.
“When I was Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation we signed 435 economic agreements with First Nations. There were chiefs with tears in their eyes saying they had no hope but now with these opportunities it made it possible to have hope,” he said.
“These would not be government handouts but opportunities.”
Rustad’s comments came just after Canfor announced it was cutting 300 jobs by closing a pulp line in Prince George while its sawmills, such as the one in Houston, went through an extended five-week closure.
“When you think of losing 300 jobs, it’s not just those jobs. When you look at the overall impact, it is affecting a 1,000 people,” he said. “You need to look at the multiple impacts on people.”
Mills such as the one in Houston and at Plateau outside of Vanderhoof, both of which have gone through extended closures, were already working just four days a week, Rustad added.
“I just can’t imagine the impact there is on families. It makes it very, very difficult when you have to put food on the table and gas in the tank,” he said.
One of the key ingredients to reviving the industry is reducing the cost to companies arising from government policies and taxation, Rustad continued.
“We’re the highest cost producer in North America,” Rustad said.
One solution he favours is eliminating the current system by which the province charges companies to cut wood on Crown land.
It’s called the stumpage rate and is based on market pricing but the problem is that is based on historical data of previous months so that if prices fall, the rate remains as if the prices were still high.
“That’s just a flawed system now and it is not longer a measure of true market prices,” Rustad said.
“I believe we need to shift to a value added tax on the end product. The more you can do with a tree, the lower you would pay in stumpage by having an input credit. You would create an incentive for more value added and secondary manufacturing.”
Rustad also said the province has to eliminate the complexity, time and cost companies now bear in obtaining cutting permits.
“I have people telling me it can take eight months just to get an archaeological assessment,” he said in citing an example. They just can’t get permits. It’s causing just huge delays.”