Inside
◆ Council notes A5 ◆ Graduation A7-10
◆ B.C. oil tanker ban A11 ◆ Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrations A15
Published by Black Press Ltd at 150 West Columbia Street, Vanderhoof, BC V0J 3A0 Publications Mail Contract #: 40007759
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2019
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VOL. 41 NO.17
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Stumpage costs to increase on July 1 MLA John Rustad speaks about the issues faced by the B.C. forest industry By Aman Parhar
With the forest industry in British Columbia going through turmoil, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad said the lumber industry will see a tough time this summer with stumpage prices going up further on July 1. “This increase in stumpage is going to make operating in B.C.
more costly. There is a flaw in the stumpage system because there is a six month to one year delay in how prices work. So now we are seeing prices go up, due to high prices from last year where now prices have collapsed and stumpage is not reflecting it,” Rustad said. Some mills such as the Vavenby sawmill
in B.C. that is permanently shutting down operations in July are closing due to long terms log supply constraints, the high cost of fibre and the ongoing depressed lumber markets. To add to that, the impact of pine beetle led to the reduction of annuable allowable cuts. “Log supply issues due to pine beetle will lead to closures and there will be mills that go from three shifts to two, but second is the cost stricture. We are in an uncompetitive situation and mills are taking more down time due to the high cost structure,” he said. Companies like
Canfor and Conifex that have curtailments on their mills in B.C., have operation in the United States, Alberta and other jurisdictions where they are not taking any down time. He said residents of Alberta don’t pay carbon tax, employer health tax and others that B.C. residents do. “There are 17 to 19 different things that the provincial government has recently added that have driven up cost. Carbon tax was in place before but it was revenue neutral. We can’t blame the current government for carbon tax as a whole, but we are in situation where we Continued on Page A3
GOVERNOR GENERALS ACADEMIC AWARD This year, Rachel E. Gerbrandt of Fort St. James Secondary School won the Governor Generals Academic Bronze Medal award. The Governor General’s Academic Medal is awarded to the student graduating with the highest grade point average from a Canadian high school, college or university program. A bronze medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest average upon graduation from a secondary school. (Submitted image)
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY CELEBRATIONS
Fireworks at the 2019 Nak’azdli Whut’en Indigenous People’s day celebration. More photos continued on page 15. (Photo by Cassandra Thomas)