Industry News

Provincial Forestry Ministry Contacts Below are provincial forestry ministry contacts for registrants requiring original certificates from a province attesting that the registrant does not hold Crown tenure rights in that province. For information about certification as an independent remanufacturer please refer to: SWLN5 - Certification of Independent Remanufacturers

Option A Regions

British Columbia

Ministry...

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The members of the Independent Wood Processors Association (IWPA) of BC have voted over 90% to retain the HST. The IWPA is an Association of over 60 of BC’s largest non-tenured family owned wood processing companies.  Our members are located in communities throughout the province and are engaged in value added sawmilling and remanufacturing. We are not big business; we are just business.  We are not publicly traded; we are owned by British Columbian families.  We are not managed by hired executives; we are managed by British Columbian owners and their families.  We do not harvest public...

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SLA 2006 Arbitration To the best of my knowledge, the Grade 4 Arbitration panel has been selected and Canada has now finished Discovery.  This is indeed going to be a slow process.  The USA has until August 9, 2011 to file their detailed case.  Canada has until sometime in November to file their detailed response.  There will be an oral hearing in Washington, DC on February 27, 2012.  It is anticipated that the Panel will reserve their decision beyond that hearing.

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The revised new structure of MFLNRO Our new Premier, Christy Clark, has made modifications to ex-Premier Campbell’s reorganization as described in our earlier post. Instead of pulling the on the ground work from MOF and giving it to MNRO, she has essentially moved (or perhaps combined) the Ministry of Natural Resources into the Ministry of Forests and re-named it the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations. Steve Thomson, the former Minister of MNRO is now the Minister of MFLNRO. Perhaps due to the greatly increased responsibilities of MFLNRO, former...

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The SLA went in to force October 12, 2006. The term is 7 years with provision for a 2 year extension should both parties agree to it. Expiry is therefore October 12, 2013 if not extended, and October 12, 2015 if extended. If extended, it may be possible to make some mutually agreed modifications, if any can be found. So, does Canada extend it or let it expire? The IWPA has already met with DFAIT a couple of times re this issue, the most recent being November 17. It may seem premature for Canada to be seeking advice on this, but given an extension would require Federal Legislation, the difficult,...

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The European Union has recently passed legislation to require proof that wood products placed on the EU market were manufactured from legally harvested timber. Australia has now begun the process of writing similar legislation. We believe that a number of other countries are watching with the intent of passing their own proof of legal harvest legislation using the EU legislation as a template. It may therefore be very important that this legislation is implemented in a way with which we can easily comply. The legislation is exceedingly vague and could be implemented in many different ways....

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As you are all aware, the BC Government is somewhat chaotic at the moment both structurally and politically. On the structural side, the changes announced by former Premier Campbell are far more than just a cabinet shuffle. While there is always the possibility that our new Premier, Christy Clark, may decide to cancel or modify the structure or implementation, for the time being it appears to be going ahead. So, perhaps an explanation of the changes as best I understand them would be useful to you. The BC Government has always been structured so that Ministries and Ministers were responsible...

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The US Trade Representative has requested binding Arbitration directed at the 'grade 4' log issue in the Interior of BC. It could be very ugly and have a significant effect on Independents so I think we need to keep an eye on it. This is not the first dispute under SLA 2006. There have been two previous issues sent to the Arbitrators in London, England. These cases are instructive as they give us an indication of what might occur if we lose. In the first, the USA accused Canada of over-shipping. Suffice to say that there is a complicated formula that determines the allowable volume. The Arbitrators...

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