| NDP's Rejection of Chinese Market is Pure Incompetence: Forest Minister
May 21, 2010 NDP's Rejection of Chinese Market is Pure Incompetence: Forest Minister VICTORIA – Three days after Canfor Corporation announced a deal to reopen operations at its Quesnel sawmill with products dedicated to supplying the Chinese market, NDP MLA Bob Simpson, was on local radio calling a China wood-strategy a waste of time. “Bob Simpson was stripped of his forestry-critic duties last year for his ridiculous comments about the Softwood Lumber Agreement,” says Forest Minister Pat Bell. “And now he’s telling people that pursuing new markets for dimensional lumber in China is ‘the wrong set of priorities.’ I think the 155 people in Quesnel who have jobs back because of our work in developing the Chinese market would be dismayed by the NDP position.” Simpson was speaking on Ben Meisner’s program on CFIS on May 13th when he said: “Do we really need the Minister going over to try and convince China to buy dimension lumber products? Do we really need the Minister to go over and spend taxpayers’ money to build a six-storey apartment block?” “My answer to the NDP is ‘Yes!’ we should be convincing China to buy B.C. lumber, and I’m proud to see the success of mills like Canfor in tapping into the absolutely huge Asia-pacific market. On May 10, 2010, Canfor announced it will restart operations at its Quesnel sawmill in June. The decision to restart operations in Quesnel came as a result of the company’s ability to find alternative markets in China for the mill’s softwood lumber. The sawmill will produce approximately 200 million board feet of SPF (Spruce-Pine-Fir) lumber on an annual basis. The mill’s entire output (approximately 700,000 cubic metres) is destined for various regions of China. The company will recall approximately 155 employees. “I’m at a loss to grasp the NDP’s position on China. Only the NDP would choose to ignore a market potential that can take 16% of B.C.’s wood production capacity, keeping thousands of B.C. forestry and mill workers employed. “The NDP have been wrong on every single economic initiative that we’ve taken in B.C., and they’re still wrong on the opportunities in the Chinese marketplace for B.C. wood products,” says Bell. Visit Pat’s website at www.patbellmla.bc.ca -30- | |
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