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Recommendations from Canada’s Forest Sector to Drive Economic Recovery and a net-zero Carbon Future

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Summary of Key Recommendations

This resource was submitted by the Climate Risk Institute for use by the CanAdapt Climate Change Adaptation Community of Practice.

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Economic Growth and Opportunity

Creating Jobs and Strengthening Communities through Investment

  • Work with industry to advance the 140 shovel-ready capital investment projects worth over $1.5 billion in value that will accelerate innovation, improve Canadian competitiveness, and strengthen environmental performance.
  • Continue with an enhanced Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), which remains responsive to our sector’s needs as the pandemic evolves, to protect jobs by helping companies keep employees on the payroll and encouraging employers to rehire previously laid off workers; improve scale, flexibility and application of the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) and Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) programs.
  • Implement a mechanism (such as an advisory council) so forest products companies can provide direct input to federal human resources related policies (e.g. Work Sharing; Temporary Foreign Workers) and programs, including those under Labour Market Development Agreements with provincial governments.

Inclusive Growth and Diversity

  • Continue to invest in the Indigenous Forestry Initiative to strengthen opportunities for Indigenous communities and the over 1,400 Indigenous-owned forestry businesses that operate in our sector.
  • Support Canadian youth through awareness building efforts that promote career paths within Canada’s forest sector (e.g. The Greenest Workforce).
  • Continue to support educational and skills development programs that provide meaningful opportunities for youth through a diversity of forest sector partnerships with real-world application, including the Outland Youth Education Program (OYEP) and its partnership with Project Learning Tree Canada.
  • Renew backing for the federal government’s Action Plan for Women in the Economy and increase opportunities for women to join the workforce through measures like increasing capacity for childcare in rural and northern Canada.

People and Nature Need Healthy and Resilient Forests

Reducing Land-based Emissions While Providing Renewable Materials

  • Work with federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous governments to advance the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ (CCFM) Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy to fully utilize forest management as a tool in wildfire mitigation and the reduction of catastrophic fire.
  • Recognize that sustainably managed forests and the wood products harvested from them are key tools in our move to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

Canada’s Forest Sector: A Natural Tree Planting Partner

  • Adopt FPAC’s recommendations for a successful Two Billion Trees program and work with provinces/territories, Indigenous peoples, the forest sector, municipalities, and conservation partners to ensure smooth and effective implementation.

Forest Sector’s Unique and Sustainable Advantage

Nature-based Solutions Through Sustainable Forest Management

  • Recognize and promote Canada’s world-leading approach to sustainable forest management and the environmental benefits of forest products sourced from Canada to customers and investors around the world.
  • Ensure federal programs enable the forest sector to provide the full suite of benefits Canada’s sustainable forest management practices provide, including nature-based climate solutions, forest resiliency, biodiversity conservation, and family-supporting jobs.

Net-Zero Future and the Circular Economy

Bioeconomy: Helping to Meet ‘Net-Zero’ by 2050

  • Accelerate implementation of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers’ Forest Bioeconomy Framework and promote activities and partnerships to achieve our shared vision of worldleading innovation and growing the bioeconomy to support renewable alternatives to more carbon intensive materials and the manufacture of forestbased Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
  • Ensure that federal carbon regulations are supportive of the circular economy by providing certainty and clarity on access to fibre to encourage future investments in the forest sector.
  • Support renewable fuels innovation and technology development in Canada’s forest sector to help the federal government achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.
  • Secure reliable funding for innovation programs that promote capital investment, including “Made in Canada” technologies to advance wood innovation and the production of forestbased bioproducts for Canada and the world.

Wood Buildings: Building Greener and More Resilient Communities

  • Continue to modernize the National Building Code to support Tall Wood Building projects as a sustainable choice to help meet housing demands, particularly in urban and suburban areas where affordable housing demands are increasing.
  • In collaboration with the provinces, leverage green infrastructure programs and the low-carbon building agenda to create more affordable and environmentally-friendly housing units.

Citation: Forest Products of Canada. (2020). Recommendations from Canada’s Forest Sector to Drive Economic Recovery and a net-zero Carbon Future.