Times Colonist
Vancouver Islanders were reminded this week of how terribly the provincial government betrayed them in allowing vast tracts of land to be removed from tree farm licences.
In the Interior, the government has just approved the removal of 4,341 hectares from a tree farm licence. That is about 15 per cent of the area that the government allowed Western Forest Products to remove earlier this year from a South Island tree farm.
In the Interior, there were public meetings and consultations with local governments, First Nations, other government agencies, local contractors and the public.
On the Island, nothing.
In the Interior, the company — or the receiver running it — provided benefits in return for the province’s generosity. About $4.4 million will go to contractors. The company is under protection from creditors; that money might otherwise have gone unpaid.
An area of critical wildlife habitat was excluded from the release. The licence holder donated two parcels of land, which will likely become parks, and provided $50,000 to a local community forest. Road access was enhanced. All in, the province said, the benefits were worth $5.8 million to the region.
On the Island, no parks, no cash, no community support, no job guarantees. No benefit to the region.
The auditor general, in a scathing review, found former forests minister Rich Coleman had failed to consult, failed to assess the benefits to the company and acted “without sufficient regard for the public interest.”
The result has been planning chaos. Thousands of hectares of what had been protected forestland — including land around Sooke Potholes Provincial Park and Jordan River waterfront that had been used for public recreation — are now open for development.
Wildlife habitat, jobs and the interests of capital region residents and communities were ignored; the company’s shareholders received a $200-million windfall.
The Interior decision, which covers land near Castlegar, shows how much this region lost through the government’s indifference to the public interest.
If the removal of 4,341 hectares was worth $5.8 million in local benefits, then the removal of six times as much land on the south Island would be worth perhaps $35 million.
Parks could have been created; public amenities supported; wildlife corridors maintained; First Nations accommodated.
Forests Minister Pat Bell said the government had heeded the report on the failure to consider the public interest here and obtained an adequate compensation package for Interior residents.
“We have listened to the auditor general’s comments and we have more than met the test that he would be looking for in this case,” he said.
But an admission of past failures is meaningless without actions to right the wrongs. Instead, residents in this region have received silence from Bell, Premier Gordon Campbell and Ida Chong and Murray Coell, the two local representatives in cabinet.
The provincial government chose to announce the latest release of land from tree farm licences on Tuesday, aware that reporters and media would be focusing on the federal election.
Perhaps it hoped Islanders would not notice the reminder of how badly they had been betrayed.
But news like that can’t be hidden. The government, with this deal, has accepted the need to obtain fair compensation for the public when it releases land from tree farm licences.
That principle was ignored on the Island, this year and in 2004 when even larger tracts were released.
The government owes this region the same diligence, respect and consideration it has accorded Interior communities.
Filed under: BC, Canada, Jordan River/WFP, Vancouver Island
