Nanaimo – North Cowichan New Democrat MLA Doug Routley said it’s going to take time, consultation and public support to stop the logging of B.C.’s remaining unprotected old-growth forests, and he urged a gathering of about 30 protestors at his constituency office in Southgate Mall to work with the NDP, getting legislation in place that will give government the controls it needs to implement sustainable practices.
Sierra Club Conservation and Climate Campaigner Mark Worthing said a halt to old-growth logging is well overdue, that he and other spokespersons for environmental groups have been put at the ‘kid table’ when it comes to negotiating an end to what he sees as destructive logging practices in B.C.’s ecologically vital old-growth forests, and that he’ll believe the government’s commitment to ending old-growth logging when he sees incremental signs of action.
“I feel deeply violated, I feel deeply disappointed, and I feel that I have been lied to,” Worthing said to supporters, just before Routley arrived to listen to their concerns and speak to them on behalf of his party. “I feel that I have been tricked, I feel that I have been swindled, by this illusion of government management or mismanagement of the forests.”
Routley cautioned the protestors about simplifying a complex issue, and assuming everyone on Vancouver Island feels the same as they do about harvesting old-growth. Unless people ‘buy-in’ to a process for protecting trees, and shifting to other sources of timber, passionate advocates for ancient forests could end up driving voters whose livings are derived from forestry, to supporting organizations and parties that don’t want to see any constraints on logging.
“What we need to do is collaborate,” he urged. “This is a complex problem. Communities up and down this coast do not support your position, and they have a right as well.” That drew an angry response from the protestors, but Routley insisted. “That is true. There are many different views on this issue.”
Worthing said he is not convinced the NDP is doing all it can to end old-growth logging and challenged the government to take interim measures to save what forests can be protected now. When Routley pointed out that a moratorium on old-growth logging – which some of the protestors called for – would be challenged legally, and that some First Nations do not want to see a ban, Worthing argued the government should end the practice in areas where there is a strong consensus.
It’s not difficult to figure out how quickly B.C.’s remaining old-growth is vanishing Worthing argued. “Twenty-two years – at the current rate of cut, all the old-growth is gone,” he said. “So, there’s your deadline. So, you just basically work backwards from that, and figure out: How much do we want left? What’s the line?”
Routley empathized with the protestors demand to end old-growth logging, but said the government has been hamstrung by changes to legislation and regulation that were put in place by the previous Liberal government during its tenure. “They had 16 years… to disarm the ability of government to intervene in the industry; we have had a year and a half to restore all that.”
Progress on issues like forest management is frustrating, because passing legislation is a grindingly slow process, Routley reminded. “If any of you was elected as a government, say all of you were cabinet ministers, you would not be able to go in and very simply do what you’re saying. It would be a complex, difficult task that takes a long time.”
He pointed out that the risk of throwing B.C. back into the control of a less progressive government is real and immanent, and asked again the protestors to work with the NDP despite their impatience. “As Jason Kenny gets elected to the east of us, as we have Trump to the south, as we may have conservatives federally, we have conservative governments all over Canada, we are the only government of this kind. So, while we’re not perfect, I would ask you to take the spirit here of: what do we do to make this happen?”
June Ross, Chairwoman of the Vancouver Island Water Watch Coalition, said she takes “partial hope” from the dialogue that took place during the protest. “I hope that he hears that we need to sit down collaboratively. I want First Nations at the table, I want the Sierra Club, the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Wilderness Committee, and some community groups, like the one I head up. We all need to be at the table to talk to them.”
In an interview after the protest was winding-down, Routley and Worthing committed to further dialogue. “I’m here to let the B.C. government know that they’re need in this solution to old-growth logging,” Worthing said. “It’s really encouraging to hear MLA Routley say that he’s willing to be part of that solution.”
Routley repeated: “…the only way that a solution will be sustainable, is if people buy-in.”
