Premier David Eby promises $50M to help get fire-damaged wood to B.C. mills - Action News
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British Columbia

Premier David Eby promises $50M to help get fire-damaged wood to B.C. mills

B.C. premier David Eby is investing $50 million to transfer fire-damaged wood from remote communities to pulp mills, which he says could create more work in the forestry sector.

Eby says the transfer will create more work for forestry contractors hauling fibre

Piles of logs are pictured at a sawmill.
The premier says the forestry industry is 'clearly in crisis' and that means industry and government need to 'find new ways of doing business.' (Ben Nelms/CBC)

British Columbia Premier David Eby is promising $50 million from the upcoming budget to help transfer fire-damaged wood from remote areas to pulp mills.

Eby told the Truck Loggers Association Convention in Vancouver that that will mean more work for forestry contractors hauling fibre, that would otherwise be too costly or remote to access.

The premier says the money would be funnelled through the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., with the goal of keeping those in the industry working.

The premier says the forestry industry is "clearly in crisis'' and that means industry and government need to "find new ways of doing business.''

At the association's first in-person convention in three years, Eby highlighted the $90-million B.C. manufacturing jobs fund, targeting rural communities affected by the downturn, and a new agreement around land management signed this week with the Blueberry River First Nations.

That agreement provides a two-year plan for timber supply in northeastern B.C., while the nation and government negotiate longer-term agreements.