In an exclusive interview with B.C.’s
Forests Minister Dan Miller, on
November 21, the Lumberworker
sounded out the early direction of the
new cabinet member.

Since his swearing into one of the

province's most important ministries
Miller, the MLA from the North Coast
riding which covers the Prince Rupert
area and Queen Charlotte Islands, is
studying up on a multitude of issues
and measuring that knowledge against.
official NDP policy.
_ While trying to get a handle on
issues, both large and small, Miller
said he's determined not to be pushed
into making rash decisions.

“T expect that the heat will always
be on,” said Miller. “We'll be dealing
with some of the most important
issues that B.C. will be facing.”

One of the first things Miller did
after taking office was to meet with
ministry staff who direct the more
than 4,000 people who work in the
Ministry and the Forest Service.

“In the past there has not been a
sense of direction in the Ministry.”
said Miller. He said he will be count-
ing on the wealth of experience that
exists in the Ministry to make things
work smoother and has told them not
to expect any further staff increases
in the short term as Finance Minister
Glen Clark is still trying to get a
handle on the enormous debt left by
the Socreds.

That debt will be about $1.7 billion
in 1991 and 2.5 billion next year if
current expenditure and revenues
continue.

With regards to the settlement of
native land claims and the establish-
ment of an overall land-use strategy,
Miller said both issues must be solved
at the same time.

“We have got to do both things in
parallel,” said Miller. “Ultimately a
good land use process benefits —
natives and non-natives alike.”

Miller said there will not likely be
an absolute process to institute a land
use strategy in every area of the
province.

The government may try out vari-
ous processes and test different mod-
els as long as there is an agreement
among the stakeholders.

Addressing the issue of tenure,
Miller has in the past as Forests Critic
said corporate concentration has had
a greater affect on job loss than world
market factors.

As the Forests Minister Miller said:
“When we are looking at reform or to

© B.C.’s new Forest Minister Dan Miller says that his ministry will be dealing with
such issues as industrial over-capacity and the free trade agreements.

change the system we don’t want to
rush headlong in and say we're going
to make major disruptions by making
fundamental changes in tenure.”

As a guiding principle for tenure
reform Miller said: “ultimately if we're
going to sustain a forest industry
there has to be enough generated
wealth from the use of our forests.”

The Minister said he'll be looking
seriously at the recommendations of
the Forest Resources Commission
which, among other things, calls for
smaller timber management units and
a more diverse log market.

IWA-CANADA members have re-

peated their demand during the past”

year, for the B.C. government to link
jobs to tenure.

Miller says that link has been bro-
ken down and must be reestablished.
Under his government “companies are
now expected to do more research and
development, and ultimately more
intensive silviculture, worker train-
ing, and capital investment into

plants to maintain modern competi-
tive facilities.”

In light of modern sawmill facilities
which exist now, Miller says there are
problems in some areas of the
province.

“We have an industrial overcapacity
(overcut) problem in the forest indus-
try and it’s a painful issue. People
don’t want to come to grips with it,”
said Miller. “We clearly can’t sustain
the overcapacity in sawmilling and at
some point things will come to a
halt.”

To counteract this eventual fall-
down effect Miller says that, over a
reasonable period of time, intensive
silviculture can increase the amount
of wood available to mills. He said
there also needs to be more research
to find where silvicultural dollars are
best spent to get the best growth.

When asked if his government
could regulate the balance between
timber supply and milling capacity,
Miller said his Ministry is responsible

to establish annual allowable cut per-
mits and milling permits.

“My view is that we don’t want to
overregulate because we eliminate
forces of the market need to provide
dynamism for growth and innova-
tion,” said Miller. “But clearly it is
foolish to put ourselves in a position
where we have a huge gap between
timber supply and industrial capa-
city.”

Union members are now expressing
concerns that, in the light of a poten-
tial North America Free Trade Agree-
ment, forest corporations will be tak-
ing more profits out of B.C. and
investing them south of the border
and will try to ship out even more raw
logs and semi-processed timber.

When asked if the government
would be able to hold capital invest-
ment in BC. Miller said “no one has
ever been successful in holding capi-
tal investment here.”

“We can’t escape the fact that we
have to operate in a global market-
place. We simply can’t be protection-
ist,” said Miller. “It doesn’t work
anymore. We will lose if that’s our
game.”

However Miller did say that he is
committed to the principle of keeping
logs in B.C. for manufacturing and the
government may, in time, adjust the
minimum manufacturing requirement
for logs.

He said that only 3 years after
signing the Canada-US FTA, which
respected the provinces’ ability to reg-
ulate log exports, the Americans are
challenging such restriction prior toa
NAFTA.

“How can we deal with the United
States in good faith when we come to
an agreement and then 3 - 5 years
later they shift the ground?” said
Miller.

The new Forests Minister says that
the industry must now move away
from commodity lumber production.

“If we can’t do it then I don’t think
were going to have much of a forest
industry in the future.”

To get industry moving that way,
Miller said the government must work
with all parties to create an industrial
strategy to create value-added indus-
try. 7

He also said that labour should
play a “significant role” in the forma-
tion of such a strategy and that it
need to be a major player in the
economic development of the prov-
ince. i?

Europeans give last minute
break on green lumber ban

Woodworkers who produce for the
European market got an early Christ-
mas present with the mid-December
announcement by the European Com-
munity’s Plant Health Standing Com-
mittee that green lumber shipments
from Canada to the European Com-
munity (E.C.) will not face a ban
effective January 1, 1992. In late
November, 1991, the same committee
had indicated that a ban on green
lumber shipments could take effect in
the new year.

With unemployment close to 30%,
the last thing woodworkers needed
was the loss of an important market
like Europe. According to industry
estimates, the E.C. threat could have
hit a major portion of Canada’s lum-
ber shipments to Europe and put at
risk close to $700 million worth of
lumber shipments from B.C. alone.

At issue in the E.C. regulation of
green lumber is their concern about

the pinewood nematode. This micro-
scopic bug is indigenous to North
American forests and the E.E.C. is
concerned that without specific res-
trictions, green lumber from Canada
could be contaminated with nema-
tode larva which, once shipped to
Europe, would devastate forests in
that region.

The contamination could occur if
the manufacturing process does not
eliminate the bark and bore holes
from a piece of green lumber. It is this
wavy portion of a en board that
carries the nematode larva.

To date, the Canadian industry has
tried to deal with the European con-
cerns by implementing a mill certifi-
cation program. The objective of the
program is to ensure that green lum-
ber shipped to Europe from Canadian
mills is free of bark and grub holes
and, therefore, does not represent a
contamination risk.

© European countries are concerned that their forests will be contaminated by bugs
that could be carried in Canadian lumber shipments.

By implementing the mill certifica-
tion program, Canada and B.C. have
effectively maintained an exemption
from the more restrictive rules regard-
ing green lumber imports. The Decem-
ber announcement by the Plant
Health Committee extends that
exemption for another year.

The alternative that should be fol-
lowed by Canadian mills currently
shipping to the E.C. is more kiln
drying. That process effectively kills
the nematode larva and meets the
European concern about contamina-
tion. ‘

Continued on page twelve

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1991/3