The mayor of Quesnel says the ongoing softwood lumber dispute with the Americans is, in some ways, a red herring in making desperately needed changes in forestry.

Bob Simpson says the previous BC Liberal government hid behind the softwood lumber dispute rather than face hard truths about the forestry crisis.

Simpson says some things are obvious.

“It is self evident our forests are getting blown out. It is self evident that the saw log profile in our forests is diminishing dramatically,” he said.

“Which makes it self evident that we have to transition our communities and our forests sector. The current government doesn’t seem to be hiding behind that softwood lumber dispute as much as the other one did.”

Simpson says the softwood lumber dispute is going to be there regardless of the work to make desperately needed forestry transitions.

He credits the NDP government for being much more proactive in acting to re-position the industry because it is an emergency situation.