Trucks gather in Merritt Wednesday (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

B.C. Forestry

TNRD chair impressed with massive truck loggers rally outside UBCM Convention

Sep 27, 2019 | 4:10 PM

VANCOUVER — The chair of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District says truck loggers who rallied in downtown Vancouver this week made a massive impression.

More than 100 heavy trucks mustered in Merritt Wednesday (Sept. 25) before adding more crews to the convoy and heading to Vancouver, culminating with a noisy demonstration outside of the Vancouver Convention Centre, where delegates met for the annual Union of BC Municipalities Convention.

The loggers are calling for more action from the government to address the B.C. Interior’s forest industry crisis, which has led to scores of mill closures, curtailments and job losses.

Ken Gillis, who was in Vancouver attending the convention, says the rally tugged at his heartstrings.

“It almost brought me to tears. It was wonderful. It was just such a magnificent display of solidarity from those people,” said Gillis.

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“Not only did they get the support that they were hoping for right in Vancouver, but all the way from Chilliwack down, every time they went under an overpass, there were people standing on the overpasses waving and cheering. So it had to be a very, very gratifying reception for our loggers.”

“I’m sure some people were pretty frustrated with the traffic tie-up,” continued Gillis, “but for the most part, everybody who I saw was positive about the whole thing. It was really gratifying.”

As for the issue at hand, Gillis says he believes the industry crisis will get worse before it improves.

“We’re going to lose more mills. You watch and see. As far as I understand, there are about three or four weeks’ wood left in the yard at Aspen Planers in Merritt. And they are not logging – they haven’t resumed logging. So when that wood is cut, the party’s over.”

Gillis notes one person who didn’t appear eager to meet the delegation was Forests Minister Doug Donaldson.

The TNRD chair says Donaldson has steadfastly refused to lower stumpage rates, even though forestry companies say it is among the primary reasons for the deepening forest crisis in B.C.

“It’s simply not economic to pay $50- or $55-a-metre for wood when wood in Alberta is going, I’m told, anywhere from $4- to a maximum of $10-a-metre,” said Gillis. “So you can see that it’s at least five times as much in B.C. as it is in Alberta, and indeed it might be 10 times as much.”