Forestry Policy is Crony Capitalism

This letter to the editor appeared in four CanadaEast papers last week:


To the editor,

It is very hard to understand the Graham government's position on Crown land management for forestry.

With the way this government pushes for private-public partnerships, one would expect them to design policy that promotes a "purchase-from-private-woodlots-first" agenda for mills, which was the case under Richard Hatfield. Instead, Shawn Graham and the Liberals have decided to take my share (as a tax paying New Brunswicker) of Crown land wood, manage it in ways that seems at odds with a 2007 Federal Government survey ("Public views on forest management in New Brunswick: report from a provincial survey,") and use it to compete against the sale of wood from my woodlot and the private woodlots of a large number of New Brunswickers.

With the plan to decrease conservation areas and increase subsidies for sivilculture on Crown lands (having recently cut these subsidies for private woodlot owners), it is difficult to see the Graham government's plan as anything more than crony capitalism or corporate welfare.

Rob Moir

Clifton Royal