Pattison urges B.C. to do more for mill towns hit by forestry slump

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
September 29, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Jim Pattison

B.C. billionaire Jim Pattison is calling on the province to provide more help to mill towns hurt by the downturn in the forestry industry. The chief executive officer of Jim Pattison Group, who owns 51 per cent of lumber producer Canfor Corp., said the softwood business in the B.C. Interior has been especially hard hit.  …Mr. Pattison praised Alberta’s system for setting stumpage rates. “It’s much better to be in Alberta than British Columbia,” he said. But B.C. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said the government’s hands are tied when it comes to overhauling the stumpage system because changes might be perceived as political intervention in the long-running Canada-U.S. softwood dispute. …Daryl Swetlishoff… estimates that permanent curtailments announced so far across B.C. have slashed the province’s lumber production by 20 per cent, and temporary shutdowns have added to the pain. [a Globe and Mail subscription is required to access the full story]

 

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