BC’s Parliamentary Secretary for Forestry says he is hoping that work done to stabilize the province’s ailing forest sector won’t be undone by the COVID-19 pandemic
Speaking on NL Newsday, Ravi Kahlon says is it disappointing that Aspen Planers had to shut down operations in Merritt, as well as in Savona and Lillooet.
“We worked so hard with them over the last year to keep them going but you know, without having the ability to have the same amount of workers show up because of concerns around COVID and price issues, and I think they had to make a decision,” he said.
Kahlon remains optimistic though that Aspen Planers will reopen once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
“Obviously, that’s our hope, but we appreciate that different companies are in a different place, and facing different pressures,” he added. “It depends on the region you are in, and so my hope would be that we see Aspen Planers coming back quick. But we got to wait till we get more certainly around how we get through this COVID crisis.”
Over the course of the last month, Kahlon says both he and Forests Minister Doug Donaldson reached out to forestry companies across the province to see how they are withstanding the COVID-19 situation.
“We’ve called pretty much every company in the province. Some are saying ‘we’re fine, we’ve got orders and we’re going to continue to fill them’. Some are saying ‘hey, we’ve got some issues around work force and how do we ensure that we have enough people,'” Kahlon said.
“The biggest challenge that the forestry industry is having is around liquidity because they’ve got all of this supply.”
Dave Earle of the BC Trucking Association previously told NL News that while truckers in the retail sector are in high demand during the pandemic, others like logging truck drivers are also feeling the economic impacts like everyone else.