Guest author Marlene Johnston of Lardeau Valley, BC
A quick review of the BC Lobbyists Registry reveals that the “Forest Industry” lobbying and reports submitted in the last 12 months include the Council of Forest Industries (COFI), Mosaic Forest Management Corporation, BC Pulp & Paper Coalition, Peak Renewables Ltd, Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd, Western Forest Products Inc, Interfor Corporation, Private Forest Land Owners Association and Tolko Industries Ltd. There are no reporting or registration requirements for organizations which lobby less than 50 hours a year.
COFI on its own, has submitted 30 Lobbying Activity Reports in the last 6 months. Some of the stated lobbying topics, some under the ‘guise’ of Covid-19 include:
-market pricing, log costs, increasing weights of logging trucks, economic support measures addressing industry competitiveness and regulatory certainty
-deferring implementation of Interior Waste Manual Amendment and deferring changes to Manufactured Forest Products Regulation
-Old Growth Strategic Review and Sustainable Forest Management
-Proposed Forest and Range Practices Act as they relate to forest sector practices
-Big Tree Policy /Regulation eligibility criteria
So COFI has an inside line to the Assistant and Deputy Ministers of FLNRORD to lobby for their ‘sustainable forest management’, for their proposed FRPA changes and for their eligibility criteria for Big Tree Policy, etc.
COFI’s stated intended outcome is “Development, establishment, amendment or termination of any program, policy, directive or guideline of the government of British Columbia or a Provincial entity”.
So, has COFI (and others) been successful in its lobbying? How would the public know for example, whether logging trucks are now carrying increased weight? We do know that further FRPA changes and the Regulations to support last year’s FRPA changes (Bill 21) have been postponed, despite Forestry being declared an essential service. We know that the results of the Old Growth Strategic Review are still not available to the public. We know that stumpage increases were deferred.
The Lobbyist Registrar website provides monthly summaries (“Who’s Lobbying Who”) of lobbying activities that organizations and consultant lobbyists have or expect to carry out in BC. Each summary covers all new registrations that were submitted and activated during that particular month.
From the July edition of “Who’s Lobbying Who”:
Moe Sihota is lobbying on behalf of Peak Renewables Ltd regarding a secure forest fibre supply (for the production of wood pellets) and the efficient movement of fibre to production facilities and markets.
Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation is lobbying with respect to a number of issues related to the forestry sector, including tenure, fibre supply, Energy Purchase Agreements and other green energy policies.
Robert Lindstrom is lobbying on behalf of the BC Pulp & Paper Coalition to increase the payload carried by trucks in the BC forest sector during the COVID-19 period.
From June: Tolko Industries Ltd. Is lobbying on several issues including wildlife management and habitat conservation within British Columbia, and Forest Act laws and regulations.
From May: Ainsworth Energy Company Ltd. is lobbying with respect to creation of new forest tenure(s) for the production of forest products, including discussions on the form of tenure and the stumpage charges associated with the tenure, and infrastructure challenges related to rail and/or port services for export markets.
From a busy month in April:
Canfor Corporation is lobbying on a range of issues related to B.C.’s forest policy regulatory regime, including the “Interior Forest Sector Renewal” process; opportunities to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and expanding economic participation and partnerships; policies regarding caribou conservation; Government’s review of the tenure transfer application of replaceable forest licences; and the softwood lumber dispute.
The Council of Forest Industries is lobbying on a number of issues including discussions on the Contractor Sustainability Review, Provincial Fibre Costs, Market Pricing System, Cutting Permits, Tenure Obligation Adjustments, Coast Fibre Recover Zone, and COVID-19 worker, community and economic support measures;
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation is lobbying regarding a number of issues including environmental regulation of the pulp and paper sector; forestry policy, specifically the preparation of Forest Stewardship Plans under the Forest Act; the forest licence renewal process; cost sharing arrangements for snow slide chutes; the “Southern Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan”; and with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic: designating wood product manufacturing an “essential service” and providing temporary regulatory relief to wood product manufacturing sector.
The Truck Loggers Association is lobbying regarding matters related to the BC forest industry and small business including timber harvesting, road building, safety programs, taxation structures, forest worker support programs, forest tenure reform, forest tenure management, labour issues, overall industry prosperity, and environmental policies.
Western Forest Products is lobbying regarding policies and regulations regarding volume, competitiveness, value and certainty for forest operations on the coast of BC, including timber harvesting land base, access to timber, First Nations’ consultations and accommodation, log export policy, tax and the promotion of forest health and long term sustainability.
From March:
Longview Communications, is lobbying on behalf of Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation regarding government support in response to COVID-19.
Mosaic Forest Management is lobbying regarding existing and proposed regulations, policies and reviews related to the BC coastal forest sector, including private managed forest regulations, taxes, property assessments, log exports, stumpage, coastal revitalization initiative, First Nations consultation and accommodation, and land use planning.
The Lobbyist Registry is rather confusing to navigate but it does show that many of the Forest Industry players have access to the most senior office holders, including Minister Donaldson, Deputy Minister Allan, Assistant Deputy Minister Sanderson (among others) and Chief Forester Nicholls. So, who are the most ‘influential’ public office holders for the forest industry to lobby? Maybe it is not the Premier nor the Minister, who have also been lobbied by a number of environmental organizations including Western Canada Wilderness, Wildsight, Y2K and CPAWS.
The goal of the Lobbyist Registry as per the website is “to promote transparency in lobbying and government decision-making by allowing citizens to know who is attempting to influence public office holders’ decisions.” The Registry reveals the legal registered lobbyists who file the required monthly reporting about who they talked to. However as stated in a Nov 19, 2019 Narwhal article (https://thenarwhal.ca/how-corporations-still-get-away-with-secret-lobbying-in-b-c/):
“But if you are not being expressly paid to lobby, or do less than 50 hours of in-house lobbying a year, registration isn’t required.
And if you’re unregistered, your interactions are not reported, documented or scrutinized by government or any public watchdog. In other words, at any moment in B.C., an unknown number of unregistered lobbyists are working to influence elected officials on the sly, and it’s completely legal.”