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  The early summer months always bring a number of opportunities to give presentations on forestry issues. Whether it is a service club, government representatives from all levels, a conference or a convention these events bring a set of unique challenges - how to hold the audience's interest and present fresh and insightful material. In preparing for these sessions I usually review the past year or so and the upcoming year. I recently had the sobering experience of comparing what I had to say at last year's PWC Conference relative to my presentation at this year's conference. Fortunately I was not the only speaker who was off the mark. The point is, of course, that we are a cyclical commodity business and taking a snapshot of today's extremely positive market doesnít even begin to capture the extreme external forces that can hit us almost overnight and lead to huge reversals. Whether it is exchange rates, import duties, interest rates or transportation bottlenecks our business has to take a long term view and strive to keep costs down in order to survive in what is now a globally competitive business. I would also encourage governmentís to do the same. We have recently seen 20 new Bills affecting the way we do business. It will take time for industry to adjust and to see the impact of market based policy reforms. As a first step in the assessment of these reforms we are undertaking some preliminary work on a "report card". I hope to be able to tell you more about this in a future newsletter. In closing I want to acknowledge the passing of Jerry Deere (see here). Jerry was a great supporter of COFI and his presence at the Board table will be missed. I also want to congratulate Rick Jeffery as President and CEO of the CFLA. I know Rick from other files and look forward to working with him.  John Allan |
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 COFI members in Castlegar and Prince George were the first to attend an intensive 3 day workshop on the Forest and Range Practices Act. The workshop was developed by COFI in cooperation with the CFLA for COFI members. The workshops are designed to assist members in operationally preparing for the full implementation of the Forest Range and Practice Act (FRPA) and its 10 attendant regulations. By law, on December 31st, 2005 all new planning and related operations must be done under the new "results based" FRPA. This is a very significant shift from the very prescriptive and process laden Forest Practices Code Act of BC and requires a solid foundation in the new laws and how they can and should be operationally applied. The workshop will be delivered in Fort St. John, Kamloops, Williams Lake, Smithers, and again back in Prince George. Representatives from the Ministry of Forests have been invited to attend these workshops. There was a tremendous amount of time and energy put into developing this workshop. A special thank you goes to Peter Baird of Canfor who Chaired this work and Brian Gilfillan, COFI's legal counsel, who developed most of the materials. Both of these individuals have worked beyond ìthe call of dutyî in developing the workshop materials. A special thank you is also extended to the support work provided by Dave Patterson of Weldwood, James O'Hanley of Weyerhaeuser, Bob Craven of Interfor, Bill Waugh of Weyerhaeuser, Ken Kapps of Timberwest. Peter, Brian, Dave and James will deliver the COFI workshops with the assistance of lawyers Trevor Swan and Caroline Findlay. For more information contact Peter Affleck, Vice President Forestry by e-mail: affleck@cofi.org or by phone: (604) 891-1212 |
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According to the Association, Rick Sommer, a registered professional forester and the president of the Association, says the forest capital title provides a great opportunity to showcase the important role forests play in every community in B.C., whether large or small. Communities awarded this title in the past have used the opportunity to demonstrate the economic, cultural, historic and environmental contributions of forests to community life and to the health of the province. The City of Williams Lake is the 2004 Forest Capital of British Columbia. Other recent capitals have included Houston (2003), Burns Lake (2002), Terrace (2001) and Vanderhoof (2000). Last year, the Association took over the B.C. Forest Capital program. It is responsible for reviewing applications and selecting the forest capital that best represents all forest-dependent communities in the province. The program was originally started by the B.C. Forestry Association in the 1980s. The deadline for applications is November 15, 2004. More information about the program and application forms for the 2005 Forest Capital of B.C. competition are now available online at: www.abcfp.ca/forestcapital.html |
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According to the report, BC's annual rate of real economic growth, expressed on a per person basis, improved to 4th place in Canada in 2003, up from 8th place in 2002. BC maintained 3rd place for the level of after tax income per capita in 2003 and placed 6th for the employment-to-population ratio, up from 7th in 2002. The Progress Board has set benchmarks for BC to place 1st or 2nd on each of these core targets by 2010. The report also includes a special topic section on demographic change. Over the next four decades BC, along with other developed economies, will experience significant population aging. The BC Progress Board, established in 2001, is an independent panel of 16 senior business and academic leaders. The Board's mandate is to competitively benchmark BC's economic, innovation, education, environment, health and social performance over time and relative to other jurisdictions. The Board also has a mandate to provide strategic advice to the Premier and government on ways to improve BC's economic performance and its social policy supports. For more information about the Progress Board, and to download the report, go to: http://www.bcprogressboard.com |
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The COFI display case at the Coast Hotel is updated every two or three years. Over the years the display case has featured forestry practices, the economic importance of the industry and COFI's community relations program. Focusing this update on COFIís Forest Education program is timely as we try to address issues of declining enrollments in college and university program and the emerging shortage of skilled trades people in our industry For more information contact Chris Lear by e-mail: lear@cofi.org or by phone: (250) 564-5136 or visit the COFI North Forest Education website at: http://forest-education.info/ |
Many thanks to Dunkley Lumber and General Manger, Blair Mayes for organizing the tour and donating the helicopter time. |
In addition to outlining the various resources, activities and programs comprising COFI's Education Program, Chris Lear emphasized the key elements in developing a successful program:
Commenting on COFI's Forest Education Program, Germain Gaudreault , Director Industrial Relations, Quebec Forest Industry Council, noted that their "members are aware of the need to communicate with students, especially with young people who will become forest workers in the next ten to fifteen years. A lot of people are impressed by the work COFI has done in developing a forest education program in BC. COFI is clearly showing us the way!" For more information contact: Chris Lear by e-mail: lear@cofi.org or by phone: (250) 564-5136 or visit COFI's Forest Education website at: http://forest-education.info/ |
Peter Affleck, COFI's VP of Forestry was the luncheon speaker updating community leaders and MLA's on new forest policy developments, the softwood lumber trade file and market related issues. Also speaking at the COFI sponsored luncheon was UNBC President, Dr. Charles Jago on UNBC's role in educating and retaining professionals in the north. For more information contact: Doug Routledge by e-mail: routledge@cofi.org or by phone: (250) 564-5136 |
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 On May 27 the International Trade Commission (ITC) will respond to the April 29 NAFTA Panel Report on "threat of injury". The Panel continues to narrow the scope and number of issues and has denied the ITC request to re-open the record. On June 1, the Department of Commerce (DOC) will announce preliminary subsidy and dumping rates for the first Administrative Review. Final rates will be announced in December and are subject to appeal. On the negotiation front Trade Minister Petersenís focus has now turned to ensuring that provinces will have a clearer path to free trade through policy reform. The DOC is consulting with the U.S. lumber industry on this point and a response is expected the week of May 24. For more information please see the following websites: BC Lumber Trade Council: www.bclumbertrade.com Government of Canada: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/eicb/softwood/menu-en.asp Government of BC: www.for.gov.bc.ca/HET/softwood/index.htm |
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"I am very pleased that Rick will be joining the CFLA in his new role," said Paul McElligott, CFLA Chairman. "The CFLA is an independent association representing the BC Coastal forest industry and we look forward to working with Rick and other provincial associations to revitalize the industry across BC. Forest products companies operating on the Coast need a strong regional industry association and one of Rick's mandates will be to expand the role of the association." Jeffery's appointment compliments the existing CFLA team of Brian Zak and Les Kiss. Key aspects of Jeffery's role will include expanding the CFLA's membership base and liaising with government, media, communities and contractors to ensure the association is clearly communicating Coastal priorities. For more information see: http://www.cfla.org/top.html |
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 COFI Northern Operations staff were active at this year's Northern Interior Planerperson's Education Association annual meeting. Chris Lear, Forest Education Manager, moderated NIPEA's luncheon featuring the Hon. Shirley Bond, Minister of Advanced Education. Minister Bond spoke about measures underway to help fill the current and growing skilled labour gap in B.C. She referenced organizations like NIPEA and initiatives like COFI's Forest Education program as essential links in the chain of education, career awareness and skills training elements to attract motivated and well trained people to trades and careers in the forest industry and to helping foster lifelong learning in that workforce to ensure BCís competitiveness into the future. NIPEA's banquet included COFI's Vice President Northern Operations, Doug Routledge as the dinner speaker. Doug updated delegates on the latest developments on the softwood trade file and BC's forest policy changes. |
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