A $2-million grant from the Province to FPInnovations will lay the groundwork to help support the development of economic hubs intended to support and grow the forestry sector.

The Make More in B.C. project will support B.C.’s wood products, from mass timber to the pulp and paper products most sought after in the market, globally and domestically. Economic hubs are at the heart of the Make More in B.C initiative, fostering regional collaboration, connecting local manufacturers with local contractors and First Nations partners, unlocking fiber and forging new opportunities.

“On the ground in forest-dependent communities, we’ve heard it loud and clear: Forestry needs predictable access to fiber, more local logs going to local mills, to create more jobs,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “The Make More in B.C. project is about building a stronger, more resilient forest sector that is never again dependent on a single trading partner like the United States. We cannot allow forestry workers and communities to remain vulnerable to duties, tariffs, and global uncertainty. We need to make more in B.C., create more jobs in B.C., and build a future that keeps more value here at home.”

The Province will support forestry sector businesses, which understand their own needs and the needs of their local forest economy, by empowering them through economic hubs, giving them the tools to work together on long-term strategies and solutions, to get local logs to local mills, get paycheques to workers, and to get wood products to markets in B.C. and beyond.

As part of the Make More in B.C. project, this grant will create jobs industry in working collaboratively across the forestry sector and with government to unlock more value from B.C.’s forestry supply chain.