STL

BRITISH COLUMBIA

A key local issue in the federal election
campaign in the Alberni Valley is the increas-
ing exports of raw logs for processing in other
countries. This article, from the Alberni club
of the Communist Party, gives the back-
ground to the issue.

The long history of B.C. as a major supp-
lier of lumber and plywood to world
markets is now being sacrificed because the
monopolies which control the industry can
make money more easily by exporting

round logs and closing down the manufac-

turing part of the industry.

Millions of feet of the best peeler logs are —

exported in the round to China and Japan
while our own sawmills and plywood indus-
try are rapidly being closed down resulting
in the loss of thousands of jobs. Just how
serious this problem is was illustrated by the
Victoria Times-Colonist, June 17-18, 1984:
“Last year, 2.3 million cubic metres of raw
logs — almost double the volume of 1982
and triple the 1979 volume were shipped to
Pacific Rim countries, primarily Japan and
China.”

- The Port Alberni local of the [WA esti-
mates, on the basis of its current studies,
that the 1984 figure for log exports will rise
to at least 2.8 million cubic metres.

The same article in the Times-Colonist
quotes Jack Munro as follows: “It’s not just
the numbers. It’s the high quality of the
wood — this stuff is some of the best qual-
ity wood our people have seen in 15
years — straight as a die with no knots —
it’s a disgraceful situation.”

In its May 6, 1983 submission to the
special committee on log export policy the
IWA cited statistics to show that producing
1,000 board feet of logs for export creates
4.72 man hours of direct employment. The
same amount produced into lumber pro-
vides an additional 12.58 man hours of
direct employment and if produced into

1,000 full time jobs will
be exported in 1984 with
the 2:8 million cubic metres
of logs being sold to Japan,
China and other countries.

plywood an additional 19.47 man hours of
employment. : :

_ The brief then draws the following con-
clusion: “Applying these direct employ-
ment factors to the sawmills and plywood
sectors in British Columbia, 1000 board feet
of logs would generate an average of 13.86
man hours of direct employment in the two
‘sectors combined. This is almost three times
as many man hours as would be required
for exporting 1,000 board feet of unmanu-
factured logs.”

Our plywood industry, which once
employed eight or nine thousand workers in
the province, many of them women, is
rapidly being abandoned at the same time
as our best douglas fir logs are being
exported and thousands of sheets of veneer
and plywood are being imported from
Asian countries to supply the Canadian
market. Vanply, Victoria, Sooke, and many
other plants are closed permanently,
because of this policy.

Canadian government figures from the
Canada Yearbook show that the imports of
veneer, panelling and plywood rose from
$91 million to $142 million in 1981, an
increase of about 50 per cent. Every retail
outlet in the country has a large stock of
panelling made out of Asian veneer. This
should be replaced by veneer which our
industry could produce.

Log exports can be cited as one of the
factors which have sounded the death knell
for the B.C. plywood industry. It is well

known that douglas fir has long been the
backbone of plywood manufacture. The
following shows what is happening to our
douglas fir production. Figures from the
IWA brief cited above show that in 1976,
out of 585,917.9 cubic metres of logs
exported out of Canada, (all species),
31,172.8 cubic metres or 5.3 per cent was
douglas fir. But by 1982, out of a total of
1,275,561.6 cubic metres exported (all spe-
cies), 398,510.2 cubic metres or 31.2 per cent
was douglas fir.

Again quoting from the IWA brief: “In
1982 fir logs became the dominant specie in
the export trade, accounting for almost one
third of the volume exported in that year.
When compared to the amount of douglas
fir harvested on the coast, the 1982 volume
of fir log exports represented approximately
14.5 per cent of the total coast fir harvest.”

It is a well known and established fact
that our timber supply is rapidly being used
up in B.C. as well as in the rest of Canada.
Still we export logs as if there were no end to
our forests and our governments meekly
obey the wishes of the monopolies who
dominate the industry and reap the profits.

What all this means in terms of jobs and
the prospertiy of our communities is best
illustrated by facts cited by the Vancouver
local of the TWA. Dealing with the 1982
figures for log exports from January to
October that local estimated that in a com-
bination of sawmill and plywood produc-
tion, 144,800 man days employment were
lost to log export. This amounts to 557
full-time jobs in the industry.

If we compare this to the log export pro- .

jects for 1984, we see that at least 1,000
full-time jobs are being exported with our
best logs this year.

- This means a direct loss to our economy
of about $20 million this year. Add to this
the hardship, poverty and suffering of those
who are unemployed, the cost of welfare
and UIE which accompanies this loss and
we begin to see what a real betrayal is being
perpetrated on our province by the lumber
monopolies and the governments who sup-
port them.

Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. VSK 1Z5. Phone 251-1186

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 15, 1984

2

Sen

Log exports and veneer imports
decimating B.C. p

lywood industry

Communist Party candidate for Alberni

Alberni Plywoods is a division of Mac-

Millan Blodel which has operated continu-
ously since January 1942, (except for a

number of temporary shutdowns since _
1980.) It is the only plywood operation left _

on Vancouver Island. For many years this
plant produced various kinds of finishing

Log exports mean a loss —
to the economy of B.C. of

about $20 million a year.
This equals about $380
thousand every week or $77
thousand every working day.

plywood; ironically it now uses Japanese
plywood panelling in some of its offices.
Not only does the B.C. plywood industry
face pressure from abroad, there is also
pressure from closer to home. The industry
is threatened by wafer board and other pro-
ducts which can be manufactured much
more cheaply out of aspen and other
“weed” species and out of wood waste.
They are much less labor intensive. At the
same time that outfits such as MacMillan
Bloedel are shutting down the plywood
industry in B.C. they are expanding their
wafer, board plants in the prairie provinces
and Ontario.
Thus, the export of peeler logs, the
import of foreign veneer and panelling and
the competition from wafer board, K3
board and other products have all cost
thousands of jobs in B.C. This loss has
mostly affected young people who are the
most in need of a steady, good paying job in
order to establish and raise their families.
Mark Mosher and other Communist
Party candidates propose that governments
should regulate the economy to provide
jobs at home first. No other party is willing
to face up to and tackle this problem.
Canadians need to heed the lessons of the

/

Mark Mosher, a long-time area woodworker ins

0

yellow cedar logs, sitting in Port Alberni to be used as firewood. Those logs could be utilize
‘create the veneer panelling sold for $15 to $25 a sheet in local hardware stores, and impo

from abroad. Meanwhile, large forest companies, with the blessings of the provine
government, ship grade-A logs out of the country, arid jobs along with them, the CP chargé

last provincial election. No amount
empty promises and election rhetoric @°

_solve the problem of putting an end to Hi

exporting of our raw materials and imp
ing manufactured products for the Caf
dian market at the expense of Cana¢
jobs.

The Communist Party candidates P!
pose policies to re-establish the viability ©
the plywood industry and the lumber indus
try in this province and they give real, B®
phoney answers to the problem of findi0
jobs for our unemployed woodwork¢
They say:

® Prohibit the export of round logs,
@ Prohibit the import of veneer
‘plywood;

@ Direct these companies to manuf
ture all the veneer and panelling used ¥
Canada from Canadian logs;

@ Send out government trade com
sions to discover and develop markets rid
Canadian wood products among the U¥"

world countries and the socialist bloc C0

tries with a policy of extending credits wh
needed to take advantage of these marke™

What is needed is an independent polit)
for Canada. It should put the interests
the jobs and welfare of the Canadian peop “i
first? The Communist Prty has champi0?
this policy for many years, and it is M?”
necessary now than ever before.

In this election we need to elect a Jaret
bloc of progressives, including Com™
nists, to Parliament, to prevent the elect®
of either a Liberal of a Conservative maJ®
ity. We need to block the drive to the righ
which monopoly is working to establish.

The sabotage of our lumber and plyw
industries is just a small sample of ' iy
Canadians can expect to see if mon?
gets its way in this election. ,