08/25/2026
Ted Clarke posted an article in the Citizen today with the headline: Forest Minister Says Tariff Help is on the Way.
Here's the article:
Parmar says province and feds also collaborating on aid programs for Northwood Pulp employees.
Canada declared a trade war with the United States when talks between the two countries broke down last Friday, Aug. 20, and the U.S. went ahead with its plan to impose a 50 per cent tariff on $20 billion in Canadian goods annually exported to its closest neighbour.
That war has been going on for two years in BC's beleaguered softwood lumber sector, which was already facing 45 per cent tariffs and duties on exports to the United States.
BC exporters have had to charge their customers that crippling rate since October 2025, when they were slapped with a 10 per cent tariff in addition to the 35 per cent in anti-dumping and countervailing duties on softwood exports. Trump's latest tariff has now upped the ante to 50 per cent.
"(Until two years ago) we never had to deal with 45 per cent tariffs or the uncertainty of a president who refers to our lumber as a national security risk and also an additional 10 percent tariff or threatens to do more because of the smoke coming in from wildfires in Canada," said BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar, who spoke to The Citizen on Monday, Aug. 24.
"These (Section) 338 tariffs hit British Columbia particularly hard as it relates to the sector and really attacked the value-added sector, which is something we've been spending a lot of time and energy towards, in particular the plywood and veneer sector, doors and other types of manufacturing," he said.
“These are the very initiatives that I’ve been encouraging forestry companies to invest in, that my government has spent over $100 million on, just in the last couple years. Our Make More in BC program project has been focused on growing the value-added sector and now we have a situation where much of that value-added sector is being hit with a 50 per cent tariff.”
Parmar has been having weekly conversations with value-added companies throughout the province, such as Brink Forest Products in Prince George. The hope was that a trade agreement would end the 45 per cent duties those companies have faced for two years since Trump took office for his second term.
There had been some progress on a potential softwood deal until that optimism was shattered when talks between the two countries collapsed late Friday.
“It’s brutal, there’s not the words to describe what is a brutal situation we’re facing in British Columbia and throughout Canada,” said Parmar. “We are going to stand with those companies, we are having conversations. I met with the Plywood and Veneer Manufacturers Coalition (on Sunday) with different operators and we know many of them are considering layoffs imminently and some of them have a couple weeks left before they have to start making serious decisions.
"The prime minister made a commitment to support these types of companies, the mom-and-pop shops that employ 20-50 people and others that are larger, and we are going to be working with the federal government to ensure that any dollars that come from retaliatory tariffs are invested to help support those companies."
BC ships 51 per cent of all its exports to U.S. markets, representing an economic impact of $31 billion to $35 billion annually. Just over half of that total is wood, pulp and paper, metallic minerals and energy products.
The lumber market is geared to exports to the United States and, for companies such as Brink Forest Products, which produces finger-jointed lumber, almost its entire market is south of the border.
“My thoughts go out to, most importantly, their workers who are paying the price for Donald Trump’s attack on our forest sector,” said Parmar. “It’s very clear that we have a lot of work to do given the challenges Prince George itself has faced over the last number of weeks with the closure of the Northwood Pulp facility.”
"Forestry is clearly an ecosystem and every facet of it, whether it's your primary sector, your value-added sector of your residual sector, all need to be functioning for this ecosystem to be successful."
That, he says, is all but impossible with pulp prices on world markets at 100-year lows when adjusted for inflation and primary and value-added producers facing crippling duties and tariffs as companies streamline their operations to try to reduce costs.
Demand for Canada's high-quality pulp has also diminished as countries such as China have developed methods to turn low-quality pulp exports from other countries into higher-quality products.
The pulp sector in BC was rocked by the pending closure of Northwood Pulp Mill in Prince George, announced July 14 by Canfor, which will result in 300 direct job losses. On Friday, Domtar revealed its plan to indefinitely idle operations at its pulp mill and chipping facility at Howe Sound, affecting 350 direct employees. On Aug. 10, Quesnel River Pulp announced a two-month curtailment that takes effect Sept. 4, affecting 90 workers.
Parmar had planned to travel to Prince George this week to meet with industry leaders and Northwood mill employees in the city but was forced to stay in Victoria to plot a strategy to help BC businesses ride out the latest tariffs.
"I look forward to getting back up to Prince George in the next couple of weeks to continue those conversations and continue the work we do, but I'm not naïve to the fact the 50 per cent tariffs that Donald Trump instituted Saturday morning is going to have a further significant impact on the forest sector here in British Columbia," said Parmar.
"This is like nothing we've ever faced before. This is going to be tough."
Parmar said the province is working with the federal government to try to bring back the Bridging For Retirement program that was discontinued in February 2025 to help forestry workers who have lost their jobs. The program, originally set up in 2021, provided up to $75,000 in retirement funding for full-time employees aged 55 or older to encourage them to give up their positions to allow younger workers facing layoffs to fill those positions.
"We're having those very conversations right now within the provincial government and with the federal government and we'll certainly have more to share in regards to not only Bridging For Retirement but we hope to see expanded EI (Employment Insurance) supports for workers as well that are impacted by the trade war and by market challenges we're seeing in our pulp sector as well."
"It's a Team BC approach, the minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, minister of Labour, minister of Jobs, all of us are working together to ensure that based on conversations our transition teams are having on the ground in Prince George and different parts of the province, we're working to ensure the federal government can bring in supports and BC complements that with other levels of support."
According to the BC Council of Forest Industries, 23 lumber mills in the province have closed since 2023. With lumber giants Canfor and West Fraser pulling back on forestry operations in BC, each mill closure or curtailment brings into question whether those companies should be forced to give up forestry tenure and whether the rights to cut that timber should be made available to other companies to protect local jobs. Parmar says there are changes in the works that could help provide those lifelines.
"I understand there are many conversations occurring right now between Canfor and interested parties about their tenure and if tenure become available, we will not rest until that's awarded to be able to partners to be able to support the forestry operators that exist today and will exist in the future," said Parmar.
"We will certainly be exploring tenure reform of different kinds in our subsequent legislative sessions as well."
Domtar, which also closed its Crofton Pulp Mill in December 2025, has purchased seven BC mills since 2010 and all but two of them are now closed, including mills in Mackenzie, Chetwynd and Powell River. That leaves Alberni Valley and Skookumchuck, near Cranbrook, as the only operating mills the Indonesian-owned parent company owns.
The province has provided Domtar $50 million since 2019 to maintain its BC operations and, with federal and provincial subsidies combined, the company received $200 million from 2020 to 2024.
Parmar was asked what happens to that money if Domtar pulls out of the province entirely and decides to dismantle its mills and send them to other countries.
"We were prepared to support them, dealing with these very unique challenges of the pulp sector prices being at record-low rates and we were committed to working with them and the federal government to provide financial support, but we needed job guarantees in return," said Parmar.
"Any form of support the government of British Columbia provides moving forward must come with job guarantees, must come with a commitment to keeping light open and keeping people working.
"I can't give a cheque out to a company unless there's a commitment to maintaining their operations and maintaining their presence here in British Columbia, that was a commitment we were looking for from Domtar.
They've chosen a different path, but we'll certainly continue to have conversations with them and other operators as well. As you can imagine, there are other folks interested in their facilities and their tenure as well."
