Christopher Justice
Vancouver Island has supplied British Columbia with world-class timber for generations, yet too much of the economic value created from our forests leaves the Island along with the logs rather than generating jobs, investment, and long-term prosperity in the communities where those trees are grown. …Yet these challenges also present an opportunity to build a stronger, more resilient forest economy by creating the conditions to keep more of our raw logs at home and transform them into higher-value products that strengthen Vancouver Island’s forestry communities. Achieving that vision will require the Province of British Columbia to work in partnership with local governments, First Nations, value-added wood manufacturers, workers, labour organizations, educational institutions, and others to develop a Vancouver Island Value-Added Wood Manufacturing Strategy. …The objective of a Vancouver Island Value-Added Wood Manufacturing Strategy is straightforward: create greater economic value from every tree harvested on Vancouver Island.