Officials in Canada and the United States appear to have resumed the acrimonious softwood trade dispute just where they left off in 2006 — with both sides blaming each other for failing to kick start negotiations. A British Columbia government official said Tuesday the Americans have ignored Canada’s offers to renew or renegotiate the trade…
British Columbia lumber companies woke up Tuesday morning with Martin Luther King Jr.’s words echoing in their ears: “Let freedom ring.” As in free trade with the U.S. The best-of-a-bad-situation Softwood Lumber Agreement expired Monday, so all the quotas and export taxes that Canada agreed to in 2006 have fallen off the table. B.C. companies…
A Fort Frances city official said he doesn’t know if the Resolute Forest Products Inc. mill is being sold, but the company, which manufactures pulp and paper, is having ongoing talks with an unknown entity.The official declined comment, as did Seth Kursman, Resolute’s vice president of corporate communications, sustainability and government affairs.In 2014, the company…
The world’s tallest wood building is ascending at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and architects say it could provide the template for how wood highrises could enter the B.C. mainstream. The $51.5 million UBC building is no architectural showpiece, concedes Russell Acton, a principal with Vancouver’s Acton Ostry Architects, which designed the plain-looking, 18-storey…
Council has authorized city staff to enter into a professional services agreement for the completion of a Forest Management Plan for city-owned forest lands. The agreement is with RW. Gray Consulting Ltd, and is up to a maximum value of $13,500, which will be funded out of the city’s Fire Hazardous Fuel Fund Reserve. Coun….
The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement doesn’t resolve Canada’s long-running dispute with the United States over softwood lumber, or remove restrictions on log exports from B.C. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday the Canadian government would like to renew the Canada-U.S. softwood agreement, expired as of Thanksgiving Day. It’s a side deal outside the North American Free…
Earlier this month, the University of British Columbia announced that construction on its new student residence was set to begin. No ordinary residence, the 18-story building will be constructed using wood. Upon completion, it will be the tallest wood building in the world. But an 18-story building, made of wood? Isn’t wood flammable? And can…
The BC Lumber Trade Council is urging the federal government to engage with the U.S. government to determine a way forward following the expiration of the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement. The agreement has been in effect since 2006 and expires on October 12, 2015. The agreement includes a standstill provision that precludes the U.S. from…
BC companies that want to be big in Japan are expecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to provide a boost. “It would be difficult for us to see how Canada could not have signed this because otherwise our competitors would have had an advantage,” said Christina Burridge, executive director at the BC Seafood Alliance. “Japan is the…
There was a flurry of excitement in the B.C. legislature last week, as Delta South independent MLA Vicki Huntington released documents suggesting that a multinational manufacturing company continued to buy up B.C. farms for carbon offsets after they said last June they would stop. False alarm, as it turns out. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick clarified…