Federal and provincial ministers are set to meet in Vancouver Monday for a forestry summit, as the sector braces for a major hit from new U.S. tariffs.
A spokesperson for Premier David Eby’s office said B.C.’s goals are to continue pushing Ottawa to support workers, contractors and businesses in the sector, which produces one of B.C.’s biggest exports.
Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is among the federal ministers expected at the table.
A new 10 per cent tariff took effect Oct. 14 on all softwood lumber and other forest products entering the U.S. That came on top of the existing 35 per cent tariffs. There’s also a 25 per cent duty on finished wood products, like cabinets and furniture, with the threat of even steeper levies coming in January.
U.S. President Donald Trump, angered over an anti-tariff ad campaign by Ontario, halted trade talks last week and said he would further increase tariffs on Canada by 10 per cent.
B.C. is set to run its own digital ad campaign in U.S. markets to criticize the U.S. tariffs against Canada.
Eby has said it’s “absurd” that Canadian lumber now faces more barriers to the U.S. market than Russian lumber.
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled some measures to support Canada’s softwood lumber industry in August.
They include up to $700 million in loan guarantees to help companies manage immediate financial pressures, and another $500 million to support market diversification and boost domestic processing.
Carney also said the federal government will prioritize Canadian materials in construction by requiring contractors to use Canadian lumber.
B.C. Conservative MLA and forests critic Ward Starmer said in a statement Friday the economic crisis facing the province’s forestry sector was predicted long ago.
“That is why mills are closing and towns and families are suffering. And why, at this rate, no one is going to have a job in this industry because forestry will have completely collapsed,” said Stamer.
“We need leadership from this NDP government, not finger-pointing and blaming everything on Donald Trump,” he said.
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