A joint federal and provincial task force will work to determine how to support Canada’s forestry sector amid potentially devastating U.S. tariff rates on softwood lumber.
Premier David Eby announced the new group after a forestry summit in Vancouver on Monday. He spoke alongside federal Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and several other federal and provincial ministers.
Eby said those supports will come in “weeks, not months.”
He said it’s been “difficult” to hear that the main topics in U.S. trade talks so far have been energy, aluminum and steel.
“These are core industries…but they’re core industries of other provinces,” said Eby.
“As of today, I feel much more confident the federal government understands the severity of the crisis facing the [softwood] sector, the impact of the industry across the province and across the country, and the need to be more involved,” said Eby.
LeBlanc said Ottawa will be having conversations with other provinces and stakeholders as support measures are developed.
“We’re not going to wait, because the hour is grave, the moment is serious for us to continue to work together,” said LeBlanc.
Prime Minister Mark Carney visited B.C. in August, where he announced a $1.25 billion aid package to support the softwood lumber sector. The measures include $700 million in loan guarantees through the Business Development Bank of Canada.
Eby said a representative from the bank was at the table Monday, and confirmed that money is starting to roll out.
Eby also said B.C. would be holding off on launching its anti-tariff advertising campaign that had been planned for this month. He said any future communication with Americans will go ahead in partnership with the federal government.
There had been questions about whether B.C. should go ahead with the digital ads in the U.S., after a TV ad by Ontario drew the ire of President Donald Trump last month and led him to suspend trade talks with Canada.
The Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement protects the majority of Canadian goods from U.S. tariffs, but Trump has imposed duties on a range of goods that are not covered under the agreement.
Trump announced additional 10 per cent tariffs on softwood lumber in October, on top of the 35 per cent in anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed in recent months.
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad and Ward Stamer, MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson forests critic, said the crisis facing the forestry sector comes after years of provincial mismanagement.
They say in a joint statement on Monday B.C. only harvested a little over half of it’s annual allowable cut in 2024.
“David Eby’s government has tied the forestry sector in knots with broken permitting systems, ideological land-use policies, and a stumpage model that has left us uncompetitive, undercut, and exposed,” they said. “Now, with tariffs hammering our exports, we’re watching another taxpayer-funded photo op while real jobs and entire towns disappear.”
Eby acknowledged Monday there is a need for the province to speed up permitting, but he said the steep U.S. tariffs facing many companies limit how much timber it is economical to harvest.
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