As the Ontario Securities Commission’s case against Sino-Forest nears its end, questions remain about how enforceable any possible outcomes might be. Lawyers have been delivering their closing remarks over the past few weeks in what has been one of the most complex cases in the OSC’s history, encompassing more than 170 days of hearings, 22…
Canadian forestry company executives are eager for a new softwood lumber agreement but say they are not interest in a rumoured U.S. proposal to reinstate across-the-board quotas. Resolute Forest Products chief executive Richard Garneau says word surfaced last week that the U.S. is seeking quotas that would put a hard cap on how much lumber could be exported…
If the opposition parties want to debate the Paris Agreement on climate change, they now have their chance. Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna tabled the United Nations treaty in the House of Commons Friday. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed it in New York on April 22, he said the agreement would be…
Canadian forest companies are no longer debating whether they will be hit with a softwood lumber duty, but how much pain the duties will cause, forest products analyst Paul Quinn told an international wood products conference Thursday. Although Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama told negotiators last March that they have…
The raging wildfire that has forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray, Alta., and engulfed parts of the community is the kind of blaze that firefighters dread, but could become more common, according to experts. Alternatively described by officials as “catastrophic,” a “multi-headed monster” and a “dirty, nasty” fire, the blaze is at least 10,000 hectares in area and has destroyed more than 1,600 structures. It…
Leading pulp and paper producers from more than 30 countries converged on Vancouver this week to attend International Pulp Week, a three-day conference that is part of PwC’s Global Forest Products Leadership Summit. Vancouver was a fitting venue for the 13th edition of this conference. Not only is Vancouver a world-class city, it’s also the commercial…
British Columbia is facing droughts more severe than any in the past 350 years, according to new research that used tree-ring data to reconstruct the coastal climate back to the 17th century. The study suggests recent droughts in the West – which have dried up streams, led to provincewide restrictions on water use, and triggered…
A by-the-numbers look at forest fires in Canada over the last four-plus decades: 373,597: Forest fires in Canada between 1970 and 2015 51,320: Forest fires in B.C. between 1990 and 2015, the most of any province during that time 32,894: Fires in Alberta during the same time, the second-highest total of any province 64,639,645: Hectares…
British Columbia’s Forests Minister says the province can’t send personnel to neighbouring Alberta before dealing with its own fires spurred by unseasonably dry weather. “Alberta understands that,” Steve Thomson said Wednesday. He said officials have discussed the province’s needs with their counterparts dealing with a disastrous fire in Fort McMurray. “We are in the process…
In the early morning hours before daybreak on May 2 in the fire-impacted conifer forest near Seiad Valley in the Klamath River watershed, 27 people including Tribal youth, river advocates and forest activists blocked the road leading to the Klamath National Forest’s Westside salvage logging project. Demonstrators held banners that read ‘Karuk Land: Karuk Plan,’…