To the Editor,
Re: WFP curtails APD Sawmill, Nov. 9, 2022
One hundred mill workers laid off at Western Forest Products in Port Alberni, “due to a lack of wood fibre.” Am I the only one who sees the constant parade of trucks hauling logs out of Port Alberni? Not to mention shiploads and barge loads of (raw) logs heading “overseas” and out of town.
Does this not beg the question – why? It seems more money can be made quickly by selling these raw logs to the United States and/or foreign markets without all the problems of having to hire Canadian workers to operate our own sawmills.
It seems the western U.S. may have laws that prevent the selling of U.S. logs offshore.. So they buy ours – outbidding our own mills and pricing them out of the market. They then resell our logs (at a profit of course). Meanwhile to ensure this practice continues the U.S. legislators impose trade tariffs on our “finished” wood products – in spite of the Canada/US Free Trade Agreement!
This has been going on for years, and you may ask, what has my government done to stop the ravaging of our forests by these “robber barons?” We cannot count on Ottawa to act as the major political parties in Ottawa don’t seem to need B.C. votes to form the federal government. We either need the B.C. provincial government to enact legislation or we must take direct action to protect our forest workers. I have advocated for years not one raw log should leave this country. You want our wood; buy our lumber!
R.L. (Dusty) Miller,
Port Alberni