Not the time for tenure reform: OFIA president

The president of the Ontario Forest Industries Association says now is not the time for tenure reform, calling the province’s recently released proposal one more challenge the hard-hit industry must overcome to land on its feet.

Jamie Lim responded to Friday’s release of an outline on forest tenure reform in Ontario, which if passed would introduce between five and 15 local forest management corporations to oversee the competitive sale of Crown timber, with up to 25 per cent of the wood supply in each LFMC sold through a tendering process.

"Tenure reform is not a magic bullet," Lim told a gathering of industry professionals on Tuesday morning.

"Tenure reform, on top of all the uncertainty … just adds more uncertainty about wood supply," said Lim, whose organization lobbies for about 70 forestry companies across the province.

She added it’s too early to begin discussion on tenure reform when there are other issues standing in the way of forestry success in Ontario. Among the demands the OFIA is making of the province is for Ontario to guarantee access to 26 million cubic metres of wood each year, proper economic analysis on local impact when decisions are made and an exemption for forestry under the Endangered Species Act.

However, Mathew Leitch, a professor of forestry at Lakehead University, said the future of the forestry industry depends on the ability of smaller companies having access to timber, not just the major, traditional players, many of which were idled or severely curtailed in their forest activities after the industry collapsed in the mid-2000s.

Leitch said while there’s a lot to like about the OFIA's vision, and that what’s good for larger players is generally good for all, he’s still got reservations about the overall approach.

He added the OFIA is not seeing the whole picture.

"I talked about companies here wanting to access wood and they say it’s easy. Well, try saying that to the company that’s now hauling wood from the United States and has been for the past year," Leitch said. "It’s not easy, as they say. And as much as you like to say it’s easy … you know as well as I do we’re not seeing it."

Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) said his plan is just what’s needed to overhaul the industry.

"The proposed new system would be flexible, transparent and responsive to changing social, economic and environmental conditions and needs," Gravelle said in a release issued on Friday by his ministry. "It would also be designed to increase business opportunities for new entrepreneurs and promote market competition for allocation and pricing Crown timber."

A series of public consultations across the province, including a May 18 date in Thunder Bay, have been scheduled to discuss the framework before it’s finalized and sent to the legislature for ratification.

Calling the framework shortsighted, Lim said the industry’s current license holders may only be using 11 million cubic metres a year today, but as obstacles are lifted and the industry rights itself, the wood will be needed down the road.

Lim’s other main concern is that the province is spending too much time listening to special interest groups as related to the Endangered Species Act, which she said as written could see companies and the province in court over every forest permit granted.

The lengthy process will only serve to convince potential investors to look elsewhere, to jurisdictions that have cut back, and not added to, the red tape needed to work a new piece of timberland.

Lim also criticized Ontario’s Northern Electricity Rebate Program, saying only the largest companies are eligible.