On January 18th, Premier Campbell announced a province-wide ‘working roundtable on forestry’. The round table is to travel the province and sit with industry, labour, and university representatives to discuss the possibility of restructuring aspects of the forest industry. The round table is to report to cabinet every 90 days on its findings.

It's hard to say what will come of the Premier's announcement of the forestry round table. The announcement could be seen as a step in the right direction if a few key elements were not left out.

Missing at the round table:

(1) A competent minister that has a track record of protecting jobs and other aspects of the public interest; not a minister who is easily swayed by private interests of forest companies. Rich Coleman has a tendency favor the short-term interests of corporations at the long-term expense of BC’s public (e.g. his Western Forest Product TFL deletion, and his ‘log-it-all’ Coastal Forest Action Plan). Coleman doesn’t seem to understand that what is best for logging corporations does not necessarily equate to what is best for BC. Rich Coleman is thus, a poor choice to lead this process.

(2) An invitation for public discussion and input on these issues. This is another example of the public continuing to be shut out of important forestry decisions.

(3) Space at the round table for First Nations.

Read about the announcement at: http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/TC-22-01-08-forestryroundtable/