Whereas the April 2025 BC Council of Forest Industries COFI report, Competitiveness and Sustainability in the BC Forest Sector, identifies BC as falling behind in all areas, except environmental policy; And whereas BC has significant undercuts year after year that significantly contribute to industry uncertainty of fiber supply leading to lack of business sustainability and investment in the wood products sector with dire results such as mill closures; And whereas the undercuts are a result of factors such as a time consuming, cumbersome, unpredictable permitting processes, rapid and unpredictable policy changes and in some cases lack of agreements with First Nations about tenure, revenue sharing, shared decisions or ownership: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call upon the provincial government and Minister of Forests to make immediate steps to create regulatory certainty for planning and permitting the harvest of the full existing licensed Annual Allowable Cut AAC; and negotiate agreements with First Nations that increase certainty in accessing fiber, resulting in improved sustainability of the forest industry, forest dependent communities, First Nations and the forest economy of BC.
