Provinces forestry tenure: a wave of changes will be coming to Ontario's forestry licensing, disposition and pricing.

• Author: Neeley, James
• Position: NEWS

A four-province panel discussion at the 2009 Ontario Professional Forestry Association conference and annual general meeting in Sudbury outlined where Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia are heading.

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A wave of change is coming to the Ontario forest industry, announced Bill Thornton, the assistant deputy minister of the forest division with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

It will come in three areas: timber licensing, disposition and pricing, he said.

"Ontario is not contemplating privatization," Thornton said emphatically.

The Ontario system does impede new business entrance and the government would like to manage the industry for a profit to develop a cushion for tough times and for forest management.

"But a fair system, not about making more revenue," is what Thornton wants to see.

Discussions are ongoing, and Thornton expects to hear recommendations from stakeholders and representatives from British Columbia, Quebec and New Brunswick.

"My gut tells me we will see different processes in various regions of the (Ontario) province."

Some sage wisdom may come from British Columbia's forest sector review, although it may be too early to tell.

They undertook a very tough review of their forestry sector, said Bob Friesen, assistant deputy minister for the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range.

"If we had not done it, the downturn in the economy would have overtaken us earlier than it did," he said.

"Of the province's vast forest lands, 95 per cent is public owned, he said, and that won't change, at least not in my lifetime," Friesen said.

The British Columbia tenure system is unusually complicated, with more than 1,000 timber licenses, most of which are wood lots.

They are now into their sixth year and yet not enough time has passed to evaluate the reforms.

Moreover, in this market "it is not the time to try and tweak things," Friesen said.

The government did a lot to introduce market signals into the economy and to diversify, he said. They introduced a market pricing system in 2004, selling 20 per cent of their standing timber at auctions. The sale price for this portion is then applied to the rmaining 80-per-cent. "We have made all these changes to get government out of the way and let business make business decisions," Friesen said. "It's not perfect, but it's a long step forward. If it wasn't for the market collapse we would be seeing positive benefits."

British Columbia is currently...