Opening up new markets for BC wood products
Although British Columbia is far less dependent on the United States than other provinces in Canada for many of its exports, the same cannot be said for our softwood exports. The United States is, by far, our largest customer and will remain so for many years to come. That is why the Softwood Lumber Agreement is so important.
A BC Liberal Government will continue to honour that Agreement which creates stability in our forest industry. The NDP forest critic has councilled that “we take our chances” on policies that could jeopardise the Agreement. We profoundly disagree. That would only expose our forest industry and our forest workers to new American countervail duties and other protectionist measures that would hurt our forest workers and companies.
As we open our markets in Canada and across North America, we will build our markets in Europe and Japan, which already account for over 90 per cent of all BC wood pellet exports. We will also continue to build new markets for BC wood products in Asia, particularly India, China and Korea. We will pursue additional demonstration projects like the wood frame construction of schools in China, as we set the example here at home with wood as the primary building material for schools, health facilities and other public buildings. We will build on the significant expansion of BC wood exports that is being realized through new wood roof truss construction in Shanghai and new wood landscape projects in Guangdong Province. Both of those endeavours represent multibillion dollar opportunities for the BC forest industry.
We will increase BC’s marketing budget in China by 50 per cent and open up new international trade offices in Asia. It will help deliver on our goal of selling four billion board feet of lumber into China by 2011. This would represent 30 per cent of our annual production, add to the opportunities in forestry and help balance off the dependence we currently have with the US market.
The new green economy provides new opportunities for BC to build on its expertise in silviculture and plant more trees as “carbon sinks” that can attract new investments for carbon offsets under the new provincial Pacific Carbon Trust. Sophisticated tree improvement programs, intensive forest management, fertilization, pre-commercial thinning, multiple brushings all will help us get more economic, social and environmental value from our forests.
Our new vision for silviculture will include a new tenure specifically designed for growing trees, as outlined in the government’s new discussion paper www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/silviculture/discussion_paper
Our British Columbia tree planters have planted over 6 billion seedlings in the last 80 years. We will add to that pace. We are the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt a ground-breaking Zero Net Defore station policy. We will continue to invest in our multi-million dollar Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan working with local communities, and to invest millions more in our Forests for Tomorrow program, which has already planted 17 million seedlings, and will plant 60 million more seedlings by 2013. For more information on all of these initiatives, see www.gov.bc.ca/for
