Tag Archives: US Tarrif on Softwood Lumber

MP Aaron Gunn to host town halls; Cortes Island possible stop

Our local MP, Aaron Gunn, is holding a series of town hall meetings in the North-Island Powell River riding. He will be in Courtenay tonight (Feb 17), Campbell River on February 21, Port McNeil on March 16 and Powell River on March 19.  Gunn may also come to Cortes Island, but the dates have not been set. 

Potential Town hall in Cortes

Aaron Gunn: “ We want to come to Cortes, but if I just come to Cortes with no plan – I haven’t really accomplished anything other than a photo op. So we always try to set up some kind of coffee or meeting where people that live there know that I’m coming and if they want to come and engage, they have an opportunity to do so.”

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The State of Campbell River’s Forestry Sector

Forestry has been one of the three economic pillars of Campbell River. In the article that follows, Mayor Kermit Dahl states that ’70% of what the city does is resource-related, and their sales in the previous year were down by just over 20%.’ While many do not agree with the industry practise of cutting big tree old growth – the iconic subset which often comes to mind when hearing the words ‘old growth’ – there is much more to the story. The following article consists of select gleanings from statements made by Mayor Dahl and several MPs (including Aaron Gunn) at a recent meeting of the federal government’s Standing Committee on Natural Resources

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Long-awaited changes to BC’s private forests not coming, government confirms

 Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

Local governments on Vancouver Island are frustrated after finally receiving a long-awaited answer to when legislative changes are coming to the law governing how some forest lands are managed in BC.

The answer: with the trade war targeting BC lumber, the priority is protecting forestry jobs. In short, after years of fighting, change is not coming.

Continue reading Long-awaited changes to BC’s private forests not coming, government confirms

BC won’t run anti-tariff ads, Eby says after emergency summit

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

BC Premier David Eby is putting his anti-tariff ads on ice after an emergency summit with federal ministers on Monday morning.

“We’ve committed to the federal government that when the time comes to be speaking directly to Americans, we’ll do it in partnership with them,” Eby told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver immediately after the emergency softwood lumber summit.

“We will not be running the ads by ourselves.” 

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How Will the Parties Help BC Forest Workers?

By Isaac Phan Nay, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s been hard to keep up with the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff trade war on Canada.

Punishing tariffs have been levied on steel, aluminum and automobiles and — critically for B.C. — softwood lumber.

“Tariffs are the top election issue for workers,” Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske said. “This uncertainty really has people very, very stressed out about the future of their jobs.”

Continue reading How Will the Parties Help BC Forest Workers?