Industry News

May 31, 2011

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 MOF Minister Bell has taken the Softwood Lumber file with him to his new Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Innovation. He has also taken with him the responsibility for Forest Innovation Investment and, closely linked to the use of FII dollars, the marketing of BC logs and lumber to China. The IWPA will continue to try and persuade Minister Bell to allow us to participate at FII.

Below is the stated purpose of the new Ministry from its website.

Purpose of the Ministry

The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations was created in March 2011 to deliver integrated land management services for British Columbians. It is the main agency responsible for establishing the policy and conditions for access to and use of the province’s forest, land and natural resources. The merger of Natural Resource Operations with Forests and Land integrates policy with operational resource management, enabling us to effectively and sustainably manage B.C.’s land base for a variety of uses.