Russ Francis recently wrote in Victoria’s Monday Magazine about recent political scandals and thier impact on investment into BC. While he provides interesting insights into the fallout from these scandals, he overlooks another underreported, but growing impediment to investment – unresolved Aboriginal Title and Rights. Occasionally, the BC government of the day will pay lip […]
A quick read of Canadian WTO and NAFTA submissions illustrates Canadian duplicity. Like much publicized white-collar criminals with high-priced lawyers, Canadian companies, provinces and federal government have tried to manipulate the technicalities of Canada’s Byzantine forest policies to avoid trade sanctions. They relied on three arguments: Canada claimed that the provinces’ under-pricing of government timber […]
The news today was interesting for those who believe in the value of whistleblowers and who are concerned by a trend among some governments to exclude the public from their business. Yesterday the National Post won a court ruling protecting from the RCMP documents the newspaper obtained from a confidential source. And yesterday the RCMP […]
The announcement that TimberWest’s TFL near Duncan was sold to Surrey-based Teal-Jones Group is touted as a success for the new Liberal forest policies. In fact, it is just the beginning in what may amount to another protracted battle with BC First Nations. In the Vancouver Sun, Teal-Jones principle Dick Jones”commend[ed] the province for the […]
Once again Doman (Western Forest Products) is seeking an extension from the bankruptcy court. Like most forestry stories in BC, reporting on the Doman bankruptcy has not addressed the complex, often contradictory, issues facing forestry on the coast. While Doman clearly has been the most worker friendly major company in the coastal labour war, on […]
On January 19, 2003, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body released its decision confirming that that Canada subsidizes its forest industry. This is no surprise to those familiar with BC’s, antiquated, environmentally destructive and economically bankrupt forest policies. However, this news will be a big surprise to those who rely on mainstream Canadian media […]
Last week, Premier Gordon Campbell announced upcoming implementation of BC’s pseudo-market based pricing scheme. He announced that as of Feb. 29, timber prices in the coastal industry will be based on auctions of cut blocks of B.C. timber. The BC government intends to expand the new system to the BC’s Interior within a year. Despite […]
Paul Martin met with George Bush in Monterey, Mexico, this morning. He came away from the meeting “gaining commitments on Canadian passports and participation in the reconstruction of Iraq.”, according to CBC news. The news is silent on what Martin gave to Bush, but it’s unlikely that Bush gave anything to Martin for nothing in […]
Send this to a friend