(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

British Columbians should strongly reject calls for increased raw-log exports, says the United Steelworkers, responding to the recent Truck Loggers Association convention in Victoria. "Log exports helped create the crisis in the first place," counters Steelworkers Wood Council chair Bob Matters.

     The USW has released a chart indicating that over 70 wood-processing facilities have permanently closed in BC since 2000, including 33 in the Coastal region. "These mills were significantly impacted by log exports; some closed as a direct result," notes Matters. "When we lose manufacturing plants, we lose jobs." He especially wants to rebut claims that B.C. needs to export more raw logs because the province supposedly lacks processing capacity.

     "Exports caused closures," he says. As exports increase, it becomes harder for domestic mills to get timber. "Exports drove up the domestic price. More logs go south or to Asia, to mills that can pay a premium for a small amount of high-quality wood. Domestic mills don't have that luxury. They're competing with firms that need only a small amount of wood from BC - but they buy all their logs here, competing with the higher export price."

     British Columbians have now a choice, adds Matters: "stop the exports or completely lose our domestic industry. If we put what we call an `equivalency tax' on exports - equal to the difference between the domestic and export prices for similar logs - exports would dry up. That would drive down the price of domestic logs. Big exporters like TimberWest and Island Timberlands would howl but domestic sawmills and value-added manufacturers would say `opportunity'. They'd buy up more logs and create more jobs - maybe invest in BC, something the industry hasn't done for almost a decade. The big exporters would have to either sell at the domestic price or leave their trees standing."

     "Exports have also killed investment," Matters adds. Recent Industry Canada statistics show declining corporate investment in the Canadian wood manufacturing industry. Between 1999 and 2008 investment actually fell by about 0.1 percent per year, 12 percent in 2008. Investment fell every year from 2005 onward, largely due to log exports, the Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement and a rising Canadian dollar. From about $1.3 billion in 2005, machinery and equipment spending in Canada's wood manufacturing plants fell to under $1 billion in 2008. Employment has fallen dramatically, as well.

     "By undermining profitability in the sawmilling and wood-manufacturing sectors, log exports have helped kill investment and jobs," says Matters. "If you're thinking of log exports as our saviour, better think again," Matters warns.