Some context for the ongoing debate around old-growth logging in BC.

@WFPCompany, the biggest and one of the most controversial logging companies on the coast, made $53 million in the 1st quarter of 2021.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/western-announces-first-quarter-2021-results-849804626.html?fbclid=IwAR2_iujxMcVWBUJlhb8ZMFPtOk4M0s666gML0Q29drMqhEOdMO073jHdR70 #bcpoli #oldgrowth

The @bcndp government likes to frame this as a moment of caution in which they can't act decisively for risk of disrupting a fragile, delicate industry.

Corporate lobby groups decry the regulatory and investment climate here as cumbersome and barely workable.
#bcpoli

And the self-proclaimed "party that works for people" just nods sympathetically, and refuses to consider policy options that aren't developed in lockstep with industry.

Corporations and some union leadership work together to attack calls for conservation as too radical.

Protecting old-growth is simplistically presented as sacrificing industry jobs, while corporations who slash as many as they can if it will boost profits escape any blame.

In this way, jobs are weaponized to justify stalling any action to protect non-renewable and endangered forests. Different parts of the working class are deftly pitted against each other by closely coordinated effort from capital and the state.

Meanwhile, Indigenous Nations who've had billions of dollars of timber and other resources stolen from their territories over the last century or so are offered revenue + agreements by corporations who recognize that this is the path to get the last of the high value old-growth.

The @bcndp government then says it can't protect old-growth because it means cutting off this revenue and going against the wishes of Indigenous peoples.

The government hides behind a system of its own creation, in a stunning act of political cowardice.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth

We're told that the swift action we need isn't possible, when it absolutely is. Solving the problems in the woods, truly dealing with the legacy of resource mismanagement and colonialism means directing the dollars necessary to offset revenues obtained through...

...old-growth logging and provide support for any jobs impacted in the meantime, to buy time to defer logging in at-risk old-growth and engage with Nations and communities on permanent visions for the future.

#bcpoli #oldgrowth

A future that includes returning land to Indigenous people and protecting the remaining old-growth isn't incompatible with a stable forest industry that is an important part of the rural economy.

The OGSR panel called for recognition that timber extraction is just one value of many that forests provide, and that prioritizing it as such is what is needed in this province.

Resistance to this is deeply entrenched, in corporate boardrooms and government agencies alike.

The growing movement for old-growth must continue to apply pressure, build bridges and relationships with Nations, communities and workers, and demand the bravery and creativity this crisis requires.

We have to reject the notion that better isn't possible or well within reach.

I'll say it again: protecting old-growth forests isn't incompatible with healthy and stable forest communities.

But it would be incompatible with $53 million quarterly profits for the biggest corporations, and that's what @jjhorgan's @bcndp lacks the courage to disrupt.

#bcpoli

To get involved from home, we've got some ways to take action here: https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/SaveOldGrowth 

And if you're looking for more info on how to meet with your MLA, sign up for this webinar next week: https://www.facebook.com/events/241959641009985/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D
#bcpoli #oldgrowth #forests