Vaughn Palmer: NDP was asked four years ago to rescue B.C.'s pulp mills. It didn't

B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar. Photo by Government of B.C. /Government of B.C.

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VICTORIA — Forests Minister Ravi Parmar started the week on a positive note, announcing that the province would be making more wood available to custom cutters and producers in the specialty products sector.

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“British Columbia’s path forward for forestry can’t just be providing dimensional lumber to Americans,” said Parmar by news release. “We’re supplying fibre to the businesses who are ready to create world-class wood products.”

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That was Monday. Next day came a reminder of the one-stop forward, two-steps back aspect of his ministerial portfolio.

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On Tuesday, Canfor announced the Northwood pulp mill in Prince George will be closing permanently come the end of the year.

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“On Monday, I was talking about the need for more value and how we can pivot and transform our forest sector in the long run,” Parmar acknowledged in an interview with Sonia Sunger of Global TV.

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“But when you have news like this, my heart goes out to the 300 workers directly impacted by this, but also the hundreds more that will be indirectly impacted.”

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Parmar echoed Canfor in citing an oversupply of pulp in the global market as a factor in the closure.

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The company also cited “persistent challenges accessing fibre” here in B.C.

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What about that?

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“One of the biggest challenges we face is wildfires,” said the minister. “We are having to go farther and farther away from these mills to be able to collect fibre. And the cost of transporting that into our mills is making some of the blocks (of timber) that we’re harvesting really uneconomic.”

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The competitiveness problem is not confined to B.C., said Parmar. “I know that my colleagues Back East are facing the same challenges.”

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Yet it is not as if Northwood’s owner is giving up on the rest of the country.

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Two weeks ago, Canfor completed the $68 million purchase of PinkWood Ltd., a Calgary-based producer of structural wooden I-joists and the largest firm of its kind in Western Canada.

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The B.C. Pulp and Paper Coalition said Wednesday that the B.C. government could have done more to head off the Northwood closure.

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“B.C.’s pulp and paper industry has the world’s best fibre and the world’s best workers, but we are not globally competitive,” said the Coalition’s Joe Nemeth. “We continue to ask government to understand the need to lower costs. “

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The government should deliver on its commitment to increase the supply of harvested timber from the current 30 million cubic metres a year to the promised 45 million.

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The coalition also says B.C. Hydro should pay market prices for the excess power that pulp and paper mills produce and sell into the electricity grid.

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“Had these two steps been taken, the closure of Northwood may well have been avoidable,” said the coalition.