SOUND OFF: Who is looking out for our forestry workers?
IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP, people look to government for leadership and action to make things better. But that’s not what B.C.’s forestry workers are getting from Premier David Eby and the NDP.
As mills close around the province and others worry about an uncertain future — including Aspen Planers in Merritt — the NDP government seems more intent on managing the decline of the industry rather than trying to save it.
The official opposition has long called for a plan to ensure the future of the forestry sector, but that call has been repeatedly ignored by the government. As it delayed taking action, we have seen dozens and dozens of curtailments and closures throughout British Columbia.
This government shouldn’t need any more evidence of the critical situation faced by our forestry-dependent communities. The sector is clearly in crisis, and this second-term government cannot simply sit idly by while hundreds of people lose their livelihoods and communities are hollowed out. B.C. has already lost about 850 forestry jobs over the past few months.