VICTORIA, B.C.: We now have up to 400 Sunshine Coast families blindsided by job losses at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Mill, adding to the 15,000 forestry jobs wiped out under the NDP’s watch in just four years.
After years of NDP mismanagement, forestry workers are being hit from all sides: unresolved U.S. lumber tariffs, government-created log shortages, and a maze of red tape and permitting delays. Domtar announced it is indefinitely idling its Howe Sound pulp mill, putting hundreds of hardworking people out of work on the Sunshine Coast. The company points to weak global pulp prices and a shortage of affordable B.C. fibre. But that shortage didn’t come out of nowhere.
Years of NDP old-growth deferrals, permitting delays, and land-use gridlock have made it harder for mills to get the timber they need. The NDP dropping the ball on U.S. lumber tariffs have only added to the pressure. As sawmills cut production or close, affordable woodchip supplies dry up, driving fibre costs higher for pulp mills. Howe Sound now joins Domtar’s Crofton mill and Canfor’s Northwood pulp mill on the growing list of forestry casualties.
“The NDP government is responsible for yet another mill closing even if they had the chance to stop it. They created the uneconomical fibre shortages and uncertainty in this industry with their disastrous policies,” said Ward Stamer, Shadow Minister for Forests. “They’re driving forestry off a cliff and burying their heads in the sand every time another mill closes its doors. The folks on the Sunshine Coast didn’t lose their livelihoods to global markets — NDP policy is to blame.”
Kiel Giddens, Shadow Minister for Labour, called for a reinstatement of the Bridging to Retirement Program to support the hundreds of workers across the province paying the price for NDP forest policy choices. “When the Bridging to Retirement Program was first created, government admitted its own policies around fibre constraints were hitting workers directly, said Giddens. “That’s why they need to bring that program back for these impacted workers and get a real plan to fix the fibre supply problem before more workers lose their livelihoods due to NDP failures.”
“Forestry built this province, and this government is treating it like a sunset industry,” said Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. “B.C. has the biggest timber supply anywhere, yet workers are paying the price for an NDP-made crisis. A Conservative government will fix the log supply mess, cut the red tape strangling forestry, and stand up for the workers and communities this government has left behind.”
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