As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s enjoyed a state dinner at the White House this week, these two great neighbours continue to have one of the largest and longest-running trade disputes in the world, a battle over softwood lumber that has seen Canadians and Americans at odds for 30 years. Trudeau and his trade minister, Chrystia…
Lumber companies in northeastern Ontario are fearing a new trade war with the U.S. just as their industry is rebounding. After the dark days in the middle of the last decade when many mills were shuttered across the region, the strengthening American housing market has seen the bottom lines improve and new jobs created. But…
Amid the glitz of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s state dinner at the White House this week, perhaps it’s unfashionable to remember these two great neighbours also have one of the largest and longest-running trade disputes in the world. A tiff over two-by-fours is less sexy than wondering whose spouse is wearing what. But the billion-dollar…
The Cochrane Power biomass plant could potentially have a chance to get its operation up-and-running again. At its annual meeting on Friday, The Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) unanimously supported lobbying the provincial government to reconsider the plant for its Large Renewable Procurement 1 (LRP 1). Ted Griffin, with the lobby group Campbell Strategies, presented…
Federal legislation promoting wood-burning power plants as a “carbon neutral” way to make energy is drawing criticism from some scientists. The provision is part of a much larger bipartisan energy bill now pending in the U.S. Senate, which could approve the bill as early as next week. In a letter sent to Senate leaders on…
It’s been more than 35 years since the dreaded spruce budworm wreaked havoc on Cape Breton forests, but a group trying to better understand the bug said it is due to make a comeback. The spruce budworm is considered one of the most damaging native insects to balsam fir and spruce trees in Canada. Outbreaks…
The Northern Development Initiative Trust is rolling out a new fund to help small forestry related businesses research and develop new technologies and techniques. The fund will provide up to $1 million dollars in grants over a two year period for small and medium sized companies and community forests involved in logging, processing and transporting …
DNA testing of wood from high-value bigleaf maple trees has led to the landmark prosecution of four timber thieves in the United States. Researchers at the University of Adelaide in South Australia were approached in 2012 by officers from the US Forest Service following the felling and theft of bigleaf maples from the Gifford Pinchot…
Momentum in Canada’s export sector continued in January, an indication that an export-driven recovery is already underway for the Canadian economy. The volume of exports expanded 8.8 per cent in the past year, and in dollar terms, Canada exported $46 billion of merchandise, a 7.3 per cent increase since last year, according to figures from Statistics…
A provincial cabinet minister says there may have been some lobbying at a recent forestry industry reception for MLAs, an event that highlights the lack of a lobbyist registry in New Brunswick. It’s been more than eight years after a Liberal government promised to establish a lobbyist registry, and members of the legislature are still…