A day after B.C. Premier David Eby donned a lumberjack jacket to demonstrate his solidarity with Canadians amid the escalating U.S. trade war, the province’s forestry industry says it needs urgent action—not theatrics. In an open letter released Wednesday, forestry groups urged Eby to form a crisis cabinet to save the sector. “Put together basically a war cabinet to say, ‘Let’s focus on this now,’” said Brian Menzies with the Independent Wood Processors Association. In an unprecedented move, all factions of the forestry industry supported the letter, calling specifically on the premier to get involved and take measures to save the companies on the brink of collapse—including by reducing red tape and increasing the viable timber that can be harvested. “The premier prancing around in a fake cartoon lumberjack outfit yesterday was the exact opposite of what people are looking for while they are hurting, while they are losing their jobs,” said Gavin Dew, finance critic with the opposition B.C. Conservatives. “Cleaning up permitting, trying to pivot ourselves away from the Americans to other customers in Asia and Europe, those are all things we can work on,” said Forestry Minister Ravi Parmar on Wednesday. While the industry acknowledged the 45 per cent tariffs and duties—along with more recent 50 per cent tariffs levied by Trump’s administration on additional wood products such as plywood and veneer—have been punishing, it says the NDP government itself can help turn things around, and it needs to listen. “The forestry industry is great at crying wolf,” Menzies said. “Well this time there really is a wolf, and it really is hurting.” Parmar said he and Eby will be meeting with the groups “shortly” to “strike some conversations.” “I think it’s categorically false to say we’re not working to address the challenges here at home,” the minister added. No date has been set yet for the meeting, but for an industry caught in the crosshairs of a growing trade war, it can’t come soon enough.
