City of Powell River councillors have adopted a resolution for the Union of British Columbia Municipalities’ (UBCM) convention in September regarding forest harvesting.
At the June 5 city council meeting, councillor Cindy Elliott said she and mayor Ron Woznow worked together to put this resolution together. Woznow said it was an issue that came from meetings at a previous UBCM convention with the Truck Loggers Association.
“Very simply put, the City of Powell River has probably lost about $7 million in revenues,” said Woznow. “That is the estimate of the reduction in revenue that Western Forest Products and other companies have experienced.
“We are also well aware of the deficit the provincial government ran last year, and I certainly expect it will be a similar deficit this year. The thing about the forest industry is that it actually creates wealth, as opposed to simply distributing wealth.”
Woznow said that was the rationale for bringing the resolution forward and he thanked Elliott for working on it with him.
Elliott said she sits on the Western Forest Products community advisory group, and it was presented, in part, the April 2025 Council of Forest Industries report. She said it was new and well-presented information about the sustainability of the forest industry in British Columbia. It helps provide good information for the resolution, she added.
“It’s appropriate to send it to UBCM because it is timely and urgent,” said Elliott.
The resolution states that UBCM call upon the provincial government and the minister of forests to take immediate steps to create regulatory certainty for planning and permitting the harvest of the full existing licensed annual allowable cut, and negotiate agreements with First Nations that increase certainty in accessing fibre, resulting in improved sustainability of the forest industry, forest dependent communities and the forest economy of BC.
The motion to adopt the resolution passed unanimously. Councillors then considered a second resolution regarding removal of cigarette butts from the environment.
The resolution stated that it be resolved that UBCM call upon the minister of environment to require a province-wide cigarette butt return program, or prohibit the sale of nonbiodegradable cigarette butts.
Elliott said the matter came to councillors through a delegation at a previous committee of the whole meeting. She said the matter had come before the UBCM previously, where there was an approved resolution.
“We researched the response, which was that it wasn’t a priority at that time, and it seemed that there might be some issues with trying to make a deposit return program for cigarette butts; it looked like it wasn’t going to make progress,” said Elliott. “We decided to bring it forward to UBCM again, saying the issue hasn’t gone away.
“We are asking that nonbiodegradable cigarette butts either have a program from the people selling it, or that they make butts that are biodegradable. We need a solution that does not pass it along to municipalities, the province and everyone else to clean up this waste.”
Council supported the resolution unanimously.
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