For a scary moment, it appeared that British Columbia’s enthusiastic new forests minister was poised to urge delegates to link hands for a rousing chorus of “Kumbaya”. Mercifully, it didn’t happen.

Instead, Ravi Parmar, the self-proclaimed “kid from Langford” and just five months on the job, gamely did his best to raise the optimistic tempo of the proceedings throughout his presentation. Parmar was addressing the more than 600 delegates and suppliers attending the B.C. Council of Forest Industries (COFI) annual convention at the Prince George Civic and Convention Centre in April.

Parmar assured his audience that he gets it; that he understands the complex issues and roadblocks which daily confront the forest sector in B.C. He told them the messages have been emphasized throughout his meetings and travels around the province.

More importantly, he assured delegates remedial measures for at least some of the issues are underway. He cited the example of B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS). A provincial government appointed committee is working on ways to repair or replace the dysfunctional Crown corporation.

But the forests minster predicts a broader-based future for BCTS. “We see a more active leadership role in forest management,” he told the COFI audience.

He talked about how a newly minted BCTS could reduce wildfire risks through silvicultural techniques like partial cutting while boosting biodiversity and increasing forest resilience in the process.

Those are all laudable objectives. But first things first. A shiny new BCTS must first prove it can fulfil its primary function. It must consistently demonstrate that it can fairly administer and deliver in timely fashion timber sales available for bidding to only qualified bidders on the 20 per cent of B.C.’s publicly owned forest lands for which the organization is responsible. At the moment it isn’t—and can’t.

Conference delegates were regularly reminded throughout the presentations about the necessity of First Nations inclusion in all aspects of re-constituting the provincial forest industry. Minister Parmar, for example, declared First Nations as “full partners” in B.C.’s forest industry and “indigenous involvement is not a threat.”

True. But full partnership brings with it the obligation of reciprocal co-operation. First Nations governments present a further layer of often glacial bureaucracy. It all contributes to preventing logging machines from working and forestry communities from healing.

There was a business session at the conference subtitled “The Elephant in the Room”. It was a reference to wood fibre security and the present lack thereof. Now, there’s also a belligerent hippopotamus at the watering hole. U.S. President Donald Trump’s bouncing tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports necessary to meet American demands are unfairly damaging the economies of both countries. But the hippo has its head under the water.

George Abbott was one of the panelists in the “Elephant in the Room” session. The former B.C. cabinet minister is a member of the government-appointed task force charged with recommending changes to the BCTS structure. Abbott said the task force was in its public consultation stage. “We have seen some great thoughts coming through,” he reported.

And he reminded conference delegates: “There’s never a deadline for a good idea.”

Abbott also spoke about “drive for 45.” It’s apparently a reference to a provincial cut target of 45 million cubic metres set by Premier David Eby in his “To Do” list to Parmar on assuming the forest minister portfolio. It’s a pretty modest target and speaks to the government’s present lowly assessment of the forest industry’s economic potential.

And as fellow panelist Nick Arkle, CEO of Gorman Bros Lumber Ltd, noted drily, “you can’t run a mill on air”.

COFI signaled the industry’s opinion when the provincial government introduced its 2025 budget. “We are disappointed by the absence of dedicated support for the forest sector,” said Kim Haakstad, the organization’s relatively new president and CEO, in a statement.

As Premier Eby and Minister Parmar have acknowledged, the forest sector will be particularly hard hit by the new tariffs at a time when the industry is already facing significant challenges, she added. Trump’s latest round of tariffs apply to the gamut of wood products. The pressures are compounded on forest workers, companies and communities already reeling as a result of earlier duties.

Haakstad said the 2025 budget projects a declining provincial harvest each year to 29 million cubic metres in 2027/28, well below the allowable annual cut of 60 million cubic metres.

“Increasing the actual harvest to 45 million cubic metres would not only stop further job losses but create the conditions to add jobs and generate hundreds of millions in additional tax revenues and stumpage fees,” pointed out Haakstad.

It might also help create the base to inject much needed investment and innovation into B.C.’s forest sector. Were that to happen and be sustained, a future COFI audience might be more inclined to participate in Scout Master Parmar’s singalong.