NDP, Conservatives and Greens each offer a different forestry jobs plan

The NDP has pledged $120 million over two years for forestry workers and mills at risk of closing. The plan also includes help to retrofit mills for new types of manufacturing and a new task force focused on keeping mills open. Scott Lunny, the Western Canada director of the United Steelworkers union, told The Tyee the plan is positive but needs more authority to protect jobs. The union is calling for a full forestry jobs protection commissioner, a role that existed in BC from 1991 until 2002.

The BC Conservatives want to raise the province's annual economically viable harvest from 29 million cubic metres to 45 million cubic metres. This is the same level that forestry industry groups asked for in a September 2026 open letter. The Conservative plan also includes extending the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund, which gives $200 million to help manufacturers create jobs, cutting taxes for value-added wood manufacturers, and reducing permit costs for mills. The party also signalled interest in changing how the province charges companies for cutting trees on public land.

The Greens have put forward a platform that rejects the proposed 45-million-cubic-metre annual harvest level that both the NDP and Conservatives support. The Green platform calls for carrying out the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review, ending clearcutting across the province, and committing up to 50 per cent of BC's wood fibre to value-added production. Gary Bull, a professor emeritus of forestry at the University of British Columbia, told The Tyee that the Green platform mentions workers and communities but does not include a clear plan to maintain a productive forest industry.

Scott Lunny, the United Steelworkers Western Canada director, welcomed the NDP's plan as a positive step but said it does not go far enough. He said the union wants a forestry jobs protection commissioner with real authority to preserve jobs in BC communities, similar to the position that existed in the province between 1991 and 2002. Lunny said he had not heard enough from the other parties about forestry but called on whoever wins to take serious steps to protect the industry and ensure a reliable timber supply for forestry companies.

Gary Bull, professor emeritus of forestry at the University of British Columbia, reviewed the three platforms and told The Tyee he was surprised at how similar the NDP and Conservative plans are. He said both parties are missing a clear prescription for how to fund better forest management. He credited the NDP with some results on the manufacturing side at smaller scales but said neither party addresses the larger challenge of forest health and coherent forest policy. He said the Green platform does not show enough thought about maintaining a productive wood products industry.

The annual economically viable harvest is the total volume of wood the province allows companies to cut each year. The current level in BC is 29 million cubic metres. Both the NDP and Conservative parties have pledged to raise it to 45 million cubic metres, which is what forestry industry groups formally requested in a September 2026 letter to government. Raising this ceiling would allow more wood to be cut, which the industry says would help mills run closer to full capacity and protect jobs. The BC Greens oppose that increase.

Yes. According to The Tyee's reporting, BC's logging and mill sector has faced a combination of pressures over the past decade: climate change, new US tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, invasive forest pests, and changes in forest management practices. The result has been a wave of mill closures and thousands of lost jobs across the province. In the weeks before Premier David Eby called the 2026 snap election, groups including the United Steelworkers, the BC Council of Forest Industries, the Truck Loggers Association and the BC First Nations Forestry Council told the provincial government the industry was at a breaking point.

Voting day in the BC provincial election is Saturday, October 24, 2026. Advance voting ran from October 16 to 21 at locations across the province. If you have not voted yet, you can find your voting place and check your registration through Elections BC's website. You can also see where each party stands on forestry and other issues on our BC election pages at /bc/provincial-2026/news.