Norm Macdonald's News
March 13, 2012
VICTORIA –Forest Minister Steve Thomson overruled his own advisory committee to allow raw logs to be shipped even though they failed to meet the committee’s basic requirement, say the New Democrats.
In December, Thomson overruled the Timber Export Advisory Committee after it directed that logs that were being considered for export should instead be sold to independent manufacturer Teal Jones of Surrey. Thomson’s unprecedented decision meant that the logs were sold to an...
February 23, 2012
VICTORIA – Recent reports highlighting the forest health crisis show that the Liberal government has failed forestry's future as badly as they've failed forestry's present, say the New Democrats.
The opposition caucus's forestry committee is working on plans to address both crises, and they'll be meeting with business, labour and community leaders in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Surrey and Hope this week to ensure forestry can continue to build communities...
February 20, 2012
New Democrat Forestry Committee Wraps Successful First Leg of Province-Wide Tour
VICTORIA –Island and coastal business owners, workers and other stakeholders agree that the dramatic increase in raw log exports is resulting in a loss of business and fewer jobs, say the New Democrats.
Members of the New Democrat caucus’ forestry committee met with more than a dozen stakeholders on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast at the end of last week on the first leg of their...
February 16, 2012
VICTORIA –Auditor General John Doyle’s report on forestry Thursday is an utter condemnation of the failure by the Liberals to address the growing crisis in forest health, say the New Democrats.
“The auditor general’s report clearly confirms what independent experts and even their own ministry officials have been saying for years,” said New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix, “that our publicly owned forests are in terrible shape and that the government...
February 15, 2012
New Democrat Forestry Committee Begins Tour With Stops on Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast Beginning Thursday
VICTORIA –As raw log exports continue to skyrocket, the opposition New Democrats are calling for more strategies to ensure that B.C. resources create jobs in B.C.
Data released last week show that raw log exports went up by 58 per cent between 2010 and 2011, with the bulk of the increase going to feed mills in China. More than 40 per cent of logs from the coast...
February 10, 2012
Raw log export data is due out Friday afternoon, numbers that will show how much of our raw resources are being shipped offshore instead of creating jobs in primary and secondary manufacturing in rural communities.
Data from the recently released 2011 census show the effects of 11 years of Liberal neglect on rural British Columbia.
In a period when the province was still benefiting from growth fuelled primarily by pre-Olympic construction, rural, resource-based communities across the...
February 3, 2012
Former Forest Minister Understates True State of Not Satisfactorily Restocked Land
KAMLOOPS –The Forest Practices Board has confirmed that former forest minister Pat Bell has been grossly understating the true problems facing B.C.’s forests.
New Democrat forest critic Norm Macdonald said Bell needs to explain why his estimate of crown lands that have not been adequately replanted was less than 10 per cent of the total the Forest Practices Board revealed Thursday....
