Key Issue: Forests, Lands, Natural Resources, & Rural Development

In response to recent production curtailment and permanent shutdown announcements by forest sector companies, Fiona Famulak, President and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce, released the following statement: “We know that difficult decisions like these are not taken lightly. Similarly, we know their consequences will be felt for a long time by workers, their […]

The Northwest economy has traditionally been based on natural resource extraction, which has generated tremendous amounts of wealth for the province. However, the region has a long history of boom and bust, and infrastructure is aging. There are several major industrial projects proposed in the Northwest, and more recently LNG Canada and Coastal Gaslink made […]

The old-growth temperate rainforests of British Columbia have significant economic, social, and environmental value. Old-growth forests are vital pillars of BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry, with tourists coming from around the world to visit the province’s unique old-growth forests and parks. They also enhance property values due to their scenic, recreation, tourism, and wildlife values […]

The communities in the Province of British Columbia continue to experience catastrophic wildfire events. Just last summer we witnessed one of the worst wildfires impacts imaginable, the complete devastation of a community in just a few short hours. Lytton wasn’t the only catastrophic event, as the summer of 2021 carried on, it became clear to […]

As forest policy modernization, reconciliation efforts and robust climate agendas continue to advance in British Columbia, the forest industry in Canada and in particular the BC forest industry is calling for the creation of policies, pathways and conditions that strengthen B.C.’s leadership potential and help drive investment and innovation across the industry. Forestry remains foundational […]

Currently, B.C.’s forest, climate and energy policies are not unified on maximizing the value of forests for all stakeholders, leaving some gaps in B.C.’s policies and opportunities that will be needed to achieve Canada’s climate targets under the Paris Agreement (St-Laurent et al., 2017). This policy looks to remove operational challenges associated with the availability […]

Canada is a leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and needs to play a larger role as a leader in providing decarbonized and innovative resources and energy to the world. British Columbia has abundant natural resources and the ability to export those resources to a world that needs them. There are large geopolitical […]

British Columbia’s coal industry makes a significant contribution to the provincial economy through employment, tax revenue and contribution to provincial GDP. BC coal mining and export contributed $4.6 billion in GDP to the province, in 2019 accounting for almost 13,000 jobs in the province and 30,500 jobs across Canada.* There is a long history of […]

The Federal Government of Canada is investing heavily in critical minerals that includes uranium extraction for the purposes of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors[1]. Climate change reduction policy based on targets have been implemented on an international scale. The BC Government has created a plan to become net-zero in terms of emissions produced in BC by […]

With a growing population, and increasing housing demand in Metro Vancouver and other cities around the province, industrial lands have been significantly decreased through both absorption and rezoning over the last 30 years. Much of the land base is lost to market pressure to convert industrial lands to uses such as multi-family residential and commercial […]