John Brink is tired of hearing about mill closures, diminished timber supplies and how forestry in British Columbia is a dying industry and he intends to do something about that to give his employees some blue sky in an otherwise cloudy future.
The 84-year-old owner of the Brink Group of Companies has made a proposal to Canadian Forest Products to buy its mill operations and timber harvesting rights in Bear Lake, Vanderhoof and Fort St. John and also acquire Canfor’s forest tenure in Houston.
Brink was already pursuing a bid to acquire Polar Sawmill at Bear Lake north of Prince George it intends to permanently close the Plateau Sawmill in Vanderhoof and Fort St. John Sawmill.
Brink has been trying to secure a timber supply to keep his finger-joint lumber plant on River Road operating and says he has to act soon to protect the jobs of his current workforce of 300 employees at Brink Forest Products, Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products and Pleasant Valley Remanufacturing in Houston.
A deal with Canfor would bring Brink’s mills up to full 600-worker capacity and he says there would likely be enough work for 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. Without access to more timber, Brink says the company’s current mill operations are in jeopardy due to the latest round of Canfor closures.
“We are now in a position where we believe we are at risk,” said Brink. “I cannot sit by and wait for what will happen next. I think there will be further closures, so we have to take the initiative, I have no choice.”
Brink approached Canfor soon after the Polar closure was announced in May, when the company also decided to shut down a production line at Northwood Pulp in Prince George and suspend its plan to reinvest in the shuttered Houston sawmill.
He was all set to make a formal proposal to acquire the Polar mill and its tenure when Canfor indicated it was leaving Vanderhoof and Fort St. John. That prompted Brink to send a letter of intent to Canfor CEO Don Kayne on Sunday to make his pitch to buy the company’s assets in Fort St. John, Vanderhoof and Houston.
Brink said he’s not interested in the outdated Houston mill but wants the timber rights for the area. If the deal comes to fruition, within five years he intends to build a new sawmill in Houston.
Having more timber would allow Brink to reopen his remanufacturing plant in Prince George and add a cross-laminated timber plant to Brink Forest Products, which would then need a workforce of 600-650.
He hopes to have a deal with Canfor in place by April 1, 2025.
“I’m committed to this,” he said. “I’m getting things done, but I can’t do it alone. I need the communities behind me. We’re dead serious about it.”
He wants to discuss his plan with Forest Minister Bruce Ralston and Premier David Eby and is still awaiting their responses.
The industry has been besieged by poor market conditions that are forcing forestry giants to pull back on their timber operations in BC. The province’s annual allowable cut has dropped from an average 50-60 million cubic-metres to 25-30 million cubic-metres, and harvesting permits approvals are taking far too long to obtain.
Softwood export duties to the United States nearly doubled in August from 8.05 per cent to 14.5 per cent. Larger companies like Canfor, West Fraser and Telko, which pay additional anti-dumping fees because they sell their products for less than the cost of production, are paying closer to 17 per cent and those tariffs are expected to spike to 30-35 per cent by Jan. 1.
Brink said the provincial and federal government have been too weak in pushing the U.S. to drop the tariffs, which in Brink’s case have cost his company $70-80 million since 2017. Tariffs were increased in 2016 for secondary manufacturers when the softwood deal was adjusted to base the tax on the value of finished products rather than the wood obtained at the input stage.
“The larger companies are getting to the point where looking forward the markets are still going to be difficult and obviously forest policy under the NDP government is such they don’t seem to understand or care what’s going on,” said Brink.
To stimulate investment and get more people working in the resource sectors in BC, Brink says there has to be a long-term plan to streamline the process of working with First Nations so companies do not have to spend so much time in negotiations with each Indigenous government before they can start harvesting.
“First Nations are becoming much more part of the industry and obviously we’re still on the territorial lands of First Nations and they have to give consent to anything that happens on the land, and that basically means that cutting permits have become much more difficult to get,” he said.
“People in the Ministry of Forests are virtually scared to make decisions because everything is now in flex. With the 206 First Nations and the Province of British Columbia, that is 207 governments in the province more or less mandating what will happen. People will not invest hundreds of millions of dollars unless they have a reasonable expectation and certainty that they can access fibre or minerals or whatever it may be.
“The larger companies in particular, for a number of years, have decided that BC is not the right place to further invest and they’re getting to the point where they’re throwing in the towel and are going to exit, and that’s where we are.”
Brink said market surveys will determine how much he would have to pay to make a deal with Canfor for its mills and tenure. Earlier this week Canfor announced it has for an undisclosed amount.
"As indicated in its September 4 announcement of the closure of the Plateau and Fort St. John operations, Canfor is committed to exploring opportunities to divest some of its northern BC tenure to support other BC manufacturers who are facing similar challenges accessing economic fibre to support their operations," said Canfor spokeperson Mina Laudan, in an email to the Citizen.
"The company has received indications of interest from several parties and will be considering options and engaging in discussions as appropriate. As per normal business practice, further public disclosure will follow only if and when there is a material event to disclose."
the province should force companies to give up timber rights on Crown land if they are no longer invested in development in those regions they are leaving.
