BC’s forest industry says the new provincial budget doesn’t meet last year’s election commitments, and actually reduces harvests.
Kim Haakstad, president and CEO of the BC Council of Forest Industries, says Budget 2025 does not meet an election promise to allow a harvest of 45 million cubic metres this year, and predicts a decline by 2028 to 29 million, half of the annual allowable cut.
In a statement she says increasing the actual harvest will stop further job losses, and create the conditions to add more, while generating hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tax revenue and stumpage fees.
She says it’s critical for the province to allow predictable access to a sustainable and economic fibre supply for the industry.
