B.C.’s forestry sector put aside its growing frustration with the NDP provincial government on Tuesday to unite behind the premier on a common call: Ottawa needs to step up with better, faster aid to counter the devastating impacts of rising U.S. softwood lumber tariffs.

Forest companies, wood producers, truck loggers, processors, manufacturers and organized labour issued a joint call with Premier David Eby for the federal government to start treating the $15-billion B.C. forestry sector with the same political importance it treats Ontario’s steel, aluminum and auto manufacturing industries threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The move came after a new wave of 10 per cent American tariffs hit softwood lumber at midnight Monday, raising the collective duties and financial penalties against the sector to 45 per cent.

“We're concerned about 10,000-plus jobs in this province, and that means that as a province, we have to step up,” said Eby.

“We need all hands on deck. This can't just be the provincial government, it can't just be the companies, it can't just be the workers, and it can't just be the federal government. We're calling on an all hands-on-deck approach here to really respond to the depths of the crisis that the industry is facing and if families are facing because it's attacked by the president.”

All hands on deck, indeed.

It was unprecedented to see........

© BIV