B.C. Conservative Leader Attacks Eby Government Over Forestry Decline

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad has accused Premier David Eby of blaming U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs for the province’s forestry-sector decline in an attempt to hide his government’s own failures.

In a statement Tuesday, Rustad said U.S. tariffs are harmful and should be strongly opposed. However, he said forestry production in B.C.’s Interior began declining as early as 2016, long before Trump returned to office, and has now fallen by about 50 per cent.

According to Rustad, poor provincial policies, permit processes that can take two to three years, and uncertainty surrounding Crown land policies have resulted in about 15,000 jobs being lost. He also said dozens of mills have closed and several companies are pulling their operations out of the province.

Rustad said the Eby government should stop putting all the blame on the U.S. and instead work to fix problems within B.C.’s own forestry system.