Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 |
Prince George-Omineca Liberal MLA John Rustad on Thursday refuted a charge by NDP forestry critic Bob Simpson that he had said he has been unsuccessful in his attempt to convince his party its forest policy has failed communities.
Simpson based his charges on a story from a Fort St. James newspaper article on a meeting that took place in mid-November. Simpson did not attend the Fort St. James meeting.
Rustad said his words were taken out of context, a presentation that focused on tenure changes that would encourage companies to make silviculture investments to increase the productivity of forests. The way to do this is to ensure that companies get the rights to harvest the replanted forests they are investing in, explained Rustad.
As part of that discussion, Rustad said he suggested that the province might consider tying the increase in timber yield to the mill that had the harvesting rights.
"As we get closer to the election, there's going to be more and more stuff taken out of context, and this is an example," he said.
The B.C. Liberal had introduced sweeping changes to forestry policy changes in 2003, including removing a link between timber harvesting and communities. The changes angered many players, including labour. More recently in the midst of a 18-month forestry downtur, communities have been focusing attention on ensuring logs are processed in the area they originate. Community group in Fort St. James and Mackenzie have made such calls.
However, the NDP has not said it will roll back the B.C. Liberal reforms, but is intent on examining tenure to find a way to create more community control, perhaps through revenue sharing or direct control over timber.
Simpson, in a news release distributed to the media on Thursday, said Rustad is clearly frustrated with how of touch Premier Gordon Campbell is with the needs of forest-dependent communities. The release stated that Rustad had said Campbell's forest policy was a failure, which Simpson acknowledged was going a big far.
"I know John is under pressure in his riding, I've heard it directly from people in his riding that he needs to start standing up for forest policy changes that suit his riding, not suit the premier's office," said Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo North and a resident of Quesnel.
"Cudos to John if he's actually standing up in the Liberal ranks and saying we need to revisit a forest policy change that delinked community benefits from the forests around the communities," said Simpson.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 December 2008 )
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