Canada’s 2024 budget prioritizes new housing, includes $53 billion in new spending. In related news: FPAC welcomes budget carveout for innovative building products; while other pundits focus on new taxes, climate implications and inflation concerns. In other Business news: Western Forest Products indefinitely curtails Alberni, BC mill; Domtar’s Tennessee mill is fined for emission; and Greif opens a new packaging mill in Dallas. Meanwhile, code changes allowing 18-storey timber buildings are welcomed by Element5, and the University of Northern BC.
In other news: New Brunswick takes firefighting readiness to a new level; a Washington state court clears way for carbon storage on public lands; the US Forest Service blames market factors for Dakota mill closures; US timber crisis has implications for the environment; and California researchers say arctic and boreal latitudes are warming fast.
Finally, on Earth Day April 22nd — thank active forest management and Montana’s loggers.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) President and CEO Derek Nighbor released a statement in response to the 2024 Federal Budget tabled by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland. “FPAC took note in Budget 2024 of the government’s recognition of how Canadian forest sector workers and communities can grow the economy, address affordable housing needs, and help mitigate the risk of more catastrophic fires across the country. We welcome the over $16 billion towards home construction, including a $50 million carveout to fund the uptake of innovative building techniques like prefabricated and modular housing and mass-timber construction. …The $265 million offered to support wildfire prevention will help – but to keep people, communities, and critical infrastructure safer from fire, more must be done in collaboration with provinces, municipalities, and Indigenous Peoples to support more active management of our forests – similar to investments and approaches we are seeing in the United States and Europe.
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s construction industry says its workforce numbers have improved in recent years, but persistent labour shortages are putting “extreme pressures” on employers. The BC Construction Association says the shortage of qualified workers has pushed the average annual wage in the sector to just short of $75,000, up 21 per cent in the last five years. It says the average entry-level wage for construction workers is now at more than $22 an hour, 25 per cent above minimum wage in the province. …The association says companies also face persistent uncertainty when it comes to getting paid for their work, with contractors possibly having to “wait months for payment.” “They experience significant financial risk and take on the increased cost of debt, which can put them in danger of bankruptcy,” the statement says. “They are put in the position of ‘financing’ construction projects, including the housing B.C. desperately needs.”
Western Forest Products announced the indefinite curtailment of its Alberni Pacific Division (APD) facility, located in Port Alberni, B.C.. The APD facility has been temporarily curtailed since fall 2022. In January 2023, the Company announced it would not restart APD in its current configuration and established a multi-party working group to explore viable industrial manufacturing solutions for the site. In April 2023, the Company commenced negotiations related to a proposal received to operate the APD facility as a going concern. …These negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful due to more challenging macroeconomic conditions and financing markets. The Company intends to move ahead with exploring other options for the property. …Western’s CEO Steven Hofer said, “This process has taken longer than expected and has been very difficult for impacted APD employees.” The Company intends to offer voluntary severance to the remaining 60 APD employees.
The Consumer Price Index (
