YOUR PERSPECTIVE: NDP must do more to help forest-dependent communities thrive
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It’s so important that B.C.’s forestry workers — and the communities that depend on them — have our support. Many of B.C.’s smaller, more rural communities exist because of the resource sector and now, some of those same communities are being hollowed out as industries like forestry see more and more mill closures and curtailments. People are losing their jobs, and some are leaving town to find work elsewhere.
I recently returned from a tour of some of these forestry-dependent communities because I wanted to see first-hand what they were dealing with, and hear directly from the mill operators and workers to truly understand their challenges. I got to see some operations that are doing well at the moment, like Structurlam in Okanagan Falls which manufactures some of North America’s most well-known and award-winning structures.
On the flip side, my tour also brought me to Merritt where the situation isn’t so rosy. I joined two of my colleagues, MLA Jackie Tegart who represents the area as well as MLA Michael Lee, to talk to mill workers and contractors at the Aspen Planers mill. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them at a rally in downtown Merritt, hearing their concerns and offering our support. They are asking for quick government action to issue permits and provide certainty as soon as possible.
In my riding of Peace River South, the small resilient community of Chetwynd is also suffering the fallout from the NDP’s failed forestry policies. Logging has been its prime industry for so long with mills being a major employer, providing good, family-supporting jobs for decades and bringing prosperity not only to our community and region but to our entire province.
