Video: B.C. Conservative leader makes forestry campaign announcement in Maple Ridge

B.C. Conservative Party leader Lorne Doerkson stopped at a shake and shingle mill in Maple Ridge on Monday, Oct. 19, to announce proposed support for forestry jobs if his party is elected. He shook hands with workers at Waldun Forest Products in east Maple Ridge, in the riding represented by incumbent B.C. Conservative candidate Lawrence Mok. Doerkson said his party would provide the sector with more predictable access to fibre, speed up permits and remove unnecessary permitting costs.

Doerkson, who is from the Cariboo, said forestry has a proud history in the region, building towns, supporting families and contributing greatly to B.C.’s success. He said the harvest under the B.C. NDP has consistently been well below the allowable annual cut, which the provincial government puts at 44,372,144 cubic metres a year. He set a minimum annual harvest goal of 45 million cubic metres and said approvals would be simplified while the environment is protected.

Doerkson promised a provincial process modelled on major-project approvals for forestry permits, approvals and investments, saying decisions would take months rather than years. He also pledged to review and eliminate unnecessary permitting costs, invest in skills training to encourage Indigenous participation, and ensure First Nations benefit from any federal funding for the industry. He promised competitive tax conditions to help value-added wood manufacturers create jobs, revitalize communities and generate greater returns from the forest sector.

Doerkson accused the NDP government of creating roadblocks, red tape and added costs that make it difficult to unlock the forest industry’s potential. He said at least 21 lumber mills had closed permanently or indefinitely since 2023 under the NDP, and claimed about 15,000 forestry jobs had disappeared in the past four years.

Hudson Campbell, the B.C. NDP candidate for Maple Ridge East, said the B.C. Conservative plan shortchanges forestry, with only $17 million in investment over the next two years. Campbell said the B.C. NDP plan would invest $270 million to strengthen the sector, including doubling the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund, which supports forestry jobs in Maple Ridge and across the province.

Campbell said the fund helps companies modernize and expand so they can create and retain stable, family-supporting jobs. He said the B.C. NDP plan would also create a new $120-million Forestry Jobs Protection Fund to provide direct support to workers, mills and communities. Campbell added that the Conservative leader’s claims do not add up because his platform does not explain how it would fund the promised skills training to increase First Nations participation in forestry. Families and communities waiting for support deserve better, he said.