By Cheryl Jahn

COFI Convention kicks off

Apr 3, 2025 | 4:17 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Forty-five million cubic metres. That was the number thrown around liberally on Day One of the Council of Forest Industries convention. That’s the figure the government has earmarked as the Province’s annual allowable cut. But harvesting has not achieved nearly that ceiling. And for a reason.

“There’s a lot more potential for us out there to harvest,” says Russ Taylor, President of Russ Taylor Global. “But because of government policy, old growth policy, First Nations policy, caribou protection, landscape planning, 30-by-30 initiatives, and many, many others, the government’s own numbers are suggesting the harvest will be 30 million in 2026, 2027 because their policies are going to take away more timber.”

But there have been dozens of mill closures across the province. most recently in the North with the likes of three Canfor closures at the end of last year. If there were access to 45 million cubic metres of timber, could it be milled? Absolutely, says Taylor.

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“Some [mills] are running one shift, offering rates are down from 80% down to 65%, which is not sustainable. Mills have to close if you if you’re running that low. So it means that the the harvest can only come up when the government policies are finally fleshed out and we can start to build on it again. So that’s possible, but it’s going to take a long time,” says Taylor.

“I think it’s important actually, if we can get that access to the timber supply, it will end up allowing those mills to ramp up and, you know, operate at full capacity and lower their costs,” says Kurt Niquidet, Vice President & Chief Economist, COFI.

But BC is still considered one of the most expensive jurisdictions to do business in forestry for a variety of reasons. Regulations being one

“Part of it is around the regulatory side of things that there’s just a lot of costs around regulatory burden,” says Niquidet. “And so some of that is there for good reason. But can we can we achieve it in a lower cost manner?”

And the question was posed to the panel, with such uncertainty, why would anyone invest capital in the industry?

“People’s perceptions of BC are really declining in terms of an attractive investment climate. So but I think there’s levers that the government can do and things the industry can do in order to turn things around. We have great potential. And so I think we can sort of become a place of to attract capital again.”

Niquidet says the permitting is also an ongoing challenge.