Child poverty in Canada is
on the upswing says study

Despite a 1989 all-party resolution
to get rid of child poverty in the
country by the year 2000, a recently
released study says that one in six
Canadian kids grow up poor. The
poverty rate has grown by 2.1 per
cent in the past 13 years. The high-
est rate is in Newfoundland and
Labrador with an astounding 26.2
per cent of kids below the line, fol-
lowed by Manitoba with 22.1 per
cent. “Many parents work for near
minimum wages that leave them
deep in poverty,” says the report,
issued by the Canadian Council on
Social Development, which notes
that poverty is growing in the midst
of growing prosperity.

Haggard addresses Border
conference on lumber issue
IWA president Dave Haggard
attended a softwood lumber panel
at the Autumn Border Business
Conference in Bellingham,
Washington on October 18. The
conference featured a special focus
panel on softwood lumber. Other
panelists included the chair of the

PHOTO COURTESY MINISTRY OF FORESTS
= Harvey Arcand (r.) joins Tom Happynook of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and MP Patrick Wong in Shanghai.

A fast plane to China

Team BC marketing trip reveals giant potential in Orient

BC Chamber of Commerce, a trade
specialist from Washington and an
owner of a truss manufacturing
company in the U.S. Brother
Haggard provided a Canadian
worker perspective and spoke about
the IWA’s vision for a North
American market strategy for
softwood lumber. “If we can grow
the market for the North American
‘brand’ of lumber, we can avoid
much of the dispute that we seem to
go through every five years

between our two countries,” says
Haggard. “Then we can start talking
about building the industry on both
sides of the border, not at the
expense of each other, but in order
to feed a growing global demand.

GETTING OVER -his jetlag upon
returning from a fast return trip to
China in mid-November, national
IWA national first vice president
Harvey Arcand brought back home
some insight into the world’s largest
housing market.

“The Chinese are seriously looking
at getting into more wood frame hous-
ing and B.C. wood products have a
chance to make headway,” says
Brother Arcand. “The potential there
is unbelievable - so government,
industry and labour have to work hard
together to get a leg up in that mar-
ket.” Arcand was part of a 21 person
Team B.C. mission that visited
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou
City. Also on the trip were B.C.
Forests Minister Mike de Jong, indus-
try associations, forest company reps

and First Nations.

Brother Arcand says that the
Chinese government is building
about 10 million family dwellings
per year, mostly out of concrete and
steel, and that the single-family wood
housing market is starting to take
root. “At this time they are interested
in very high-end stuff,” he says.
“Even if we can get a small percent-
age of their market, the potential
could be enormous.”

In Beijing the tour visited an
urban development project where
B.C. has been asked to help construct
a satellite community. Minister de
Jong also met with officials of the
2008 Olympic committee and
requested that they consider high-
value B.C. forest products in several
yet-to-be constructed installations.

Arcand points out that the
Chinese government plans to have a
new building code in place by the
spring of next year. The B.C. govern-
ment is already working to assist in
the development of that code and
help train tradesmen in wood frame
construction. Efforts are also being
made to support industry associa-
tions market and ship their products.

During the visit an accord was
reached to help facilitate the ship-
ping of spruce, pine and fir products
to China. Letters of intent were also
signed between Chinese buyers and
two Prince George-based home man-
ufacturers. “We (the IWA) have been
advocating marketing efforts like this
for a long time,” comments Arcand.
“It’s good to see all parties are now
beginning to step up to the plate.”

B.C. Liberals’ tax cuts spur a ‘leaky’ economy

RECENT REPORTS INDICATE that the B.C.
government’s tax-cuts have failed. Unemployment
is falling nation-wide, but not in B.C. StatsCan
reports that while Canada-wide unemployment fell
by x percent from October to November and
employment increased by .3 percent, B.C. employ-

ABOUT THE ECONOMY
BY KIM POLLOCK

ment fell by .x percent, while joblessness increased
sharply, by 2.8 percent.

Soon after its election in May, 2001, the Liberal
government reduced taxes, especially for high-
income earners and corporations. Premier Gordon
Campbell said that would create investment and
get the province’s sluggish economy moving. Our
union was skeptical and told a legislative commit-
tee tax cuts were an unlikely solution to problems
in B.C.’s forest sector, unless combined with sec-

tor-specific measures — like targets for overall
investment, diversification, training and jobs. The
government itself knew tax cuts wouldn’t work.
CUPE obtained government briefs warning that
only 24 percent of revenue-loss due to the cuts
would be recovered, while their cost would exceed
$2.8 billion. Despite continued assurances to the
contrary, Campbell soon announced severe service
cuts, impacting in particular rural communities.

There is reason to believe job-loss is directly tied
to tax cuts and service reductions. Without meas-
ures to encourage investment, tax cuts lead to an
outflow of wealth from a “leaky” economy, in
which income increases or discretionary-spending
for the wealthy will likely generate spending on
imports, not in-province investment. The only
thing “leakier” than B.C’s economy is a Vancouver
condo! The tax cuts are part of an economic strat-
egy relying on “free” markets to encourage job-cre-
ation, investment and growth. It’s of particular
concern because the government also wants to
apply this strategy to the forest sector.

In a proposal linked to softwood-lumber negoti-

ations with the U.S., Forests Minister Mike de Jong
suggested free-market allocation, distribution and
manufacture of B.C. timber and abandonment of
the decades-old “social contract” between workers
and governments. Again, our union was skeptical;
our paper There is a Better Way suggested retention
of minimum-cut requirements; log markets to find
timber’s best use; less reliance on stumpage and
adoption of a flat end-use tax to encourage manu-
facturing. In a series of town-hall meetings, TWA
president Dave Haggard took the union’s ideas to
the public and gained strong support. We need
more security and more help from government
than markets provides. There is a role for govern-
ment: setting priorities and targets, working with
stakeholders to meet them. There are even situa-
tions where companies need help with unforeseen
difficulties or problems, he noted. “Look at the
cooperation of the former government, IWA and
industry to keep Golden, B.C.’s manufacturing plants
going. We can’t just throw people to the wolves.”

Kim Pollock is the IWA’s Director of Environment and Public Policy

14 | THE ALLIED WORKER DECEMBER 2002