Convoy heads to Vancouver
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NORTHERN BC – As many as 200 log trucks, including a few from this region, will be making their way from Merritt to Vancouver tomorrow. They want to send a message to the politicians that a lot more people are impacted by the downturn in forestry than the sawmill workers.
“It’s widespread. It’s right down to the guy flipping burgers at McDonald’s to the guy cutting your hair, grocery stores. Everything. I mean, forest-based communities depend on forestry jobs.”
Roughly five thousand sawmill workers have been impacted and economist Al Idiens says twice as many people will be impacted indirectly. But it’s more far-reaching than that.
“You have to look at the tax base. If people are losing their jobs and they’re moving away, that reduces the tax base. if [the downturn] becomes long term, then you see a municipality just gradually diminish in its ability to produce parks and education and everything else.”
