Tree Talk Blog

Canada is a trading nation.  We export over $454 billion of products around the world every year and forest products make up a significant percentage of total Canadian exports.  In fact, through much of the 20^th century, forest products were the dominant export from Canada.

As part of our work in Ottawa, FPAC represents the forest industry’s position on various trade issues and helps our member companies with trade concerns.  So I was both pleased and honoured to be asked to join Minister of International Trade Ed Fast at a private luncheon for the outgoing Ambassador of Japan, Kaoru Ishikawa.

​When I speak with people about what I do at the Forest Products Association of Canada, I tend to get two, almost contradictory, reactions.

First, almost everyone is genuinely interested in the forest sector.  But I also notice another reaction.  People drift away from me at family gatherings and other social functions if I talk about the details of what we actually do to lobby for the forest industry in Ottawa.

People are interested in the forest industry; they just don’t have much interest in the process of lobbying government.

In this week’s blog I want to tell you about one example of what we do on a regular basis in Ottawa on behalf of the forest sector.  But I warn you―it is usually at this point at a party when people say to me that they have to re-fill their glass.

​Working on policy and advocacy for the forest sector in Canada is an interesting job.  This industry stretches from coast to coast; the issues range from economic to environmental, from international trade to innovation and technology.   There is a long history and, as a renewable resource, a promising future for the forest sector in Canada.

As the newest President of FPAC, I stand on the shoulders of the dedicated advocates who went before me.  And, like the practice of forestry itself, some of what we do today is planting seeds that will be harvested by our successors in the future.