New funding for value-added wood producers and manufacturing businesses in the Kootenays will protect workforces and support strong communities.

To help strengthen wood-product manufacturers and further support local First Nations economies around B.C., the Province is supporting four manufacturers to upgrade their operations, sustain jobs in rural communities and plan for growth.

Bruce Ralston, Minister of Forests, and Jagrup Brar, Minister of State for Trade, have issued the following joint statement in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s final determination in its fourth administrative review regarding countervailing and antidumping duties applied to Canada’s softwood lumber exports to the United States:

The Government of British Columbia is providing more than $4 million for 12 new mass-timber demonstration and research projects, which builds on B.C.’s global leadership in this area.

To help grow B.C.’s value-added wood sector, the Province will support the establishment of a new mass-timber production facility that will create more than 70 jobs in Williams Lake. 

People in B.C. will benefit from sustained cutting-edge research, especially focused on improving health care, as the Province provides $20 million over two years to the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC).

People and businesses in British Columbia will benefit from new jobs, diversified supply chains and a stronger, cleaner economy following the Province’s successful trade mission to Asia.