$1 billion forestry package too little too late

OTTAWA – New Democrat Forestry Critic John Rafferty (Thunder Bay – Rainy River) said today that the Conservative government’s $1 billion forestry assistance plan is coming too late to reverse the industry’s 55,000 job losses and will not offset the damage done to the Canadian pulp and paper industry at the hands of the US Black Liquor tax credit.

“New Democrats have been calling for assistance for years, but this money isn’t going to reverse the massive job losses or stop more from happening,” Rafferty said. “My issue is not with the environmental and modernization measures the Minister is putting forward, but the most pressing issue today is helping the 50,000 workers that have lost their jobs in the last few years and saving the 100,000 plus jobs that are at risk in our pulp and paper mills and forestry communities in the months ahead.”

The size of the assistance package also troubles Rafferty. “The forestry sector is approximately the same size of the auto-sector, so $1 billion doesn’t look like much next to the $6 billion that the government has invested in GM,” he said. “The government needs to offer loan guarantees to large bankrupt companies like AbitibiBowater, to protect the pensions of retired forestry workers, to help newsprint producers make a transition to more valuable products, and above all to remedy the problems caused by the unfair US Black Liquor subsidy. As it stands, this plan does none of the above.”

“I welcome the money to help pulp and paper become more environmentally friendly in their operations, but the only way to save the 100,000 plus pulp and paper jobs in Canada is to negotiate an immediate end to the US government’s Black Liquor subsidy to American pulp and paper producers, or match or better it on this side of the border,” he said. “Canadian companies can’t compete with their US counterparts who get $71 million in cheques every month from their government.” For his part, Rafferty tabled Private Member’s Motion (M-357) in April that calls on the government to negotiate an end to the unfair US subsidy or match it for Canadian producers.

According to the Forestry Products Association of Canada (FPAC), the forestry industry in Canada is an $84 billion a year industry that directly or indirectly employs 863,000 people in all provinces of the country. Since 2003, there have been more than 200 mill closures across Canada and 50,000 confirmed layoffs or job losses in the industry according the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union.