$100 MILLION FROM FEDS
British Columbia’s budget may not have delivered any good news for the forest industry when it was presented earlier this week, but it was a different story in Ottawa yesterday where in the latest federal budget $100 million has been slated for new green energy technologies.
The $100 million comes in addition to accelerated write-offs in green energy investments and an extension to the work-share program, changes that are expected to promote capital investment and maintain jobs in the sawmill sector.
According to news reports, the news out of Ottawa had Avrim Lazar, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada declaring, “I’m a happy lumberjack.” In an interview with the Vancouver Sun newspaper, Lazar said, “We are very happy with that because we see our future in green technology.”
The $100 million in Thursday’s budget will be used over the next four years to promote the development, commercialization and implementation of new clean-energy technologies. “From a forest industry perspective, the government has its priorities right,” added Lazar.
Last year, the federal government provided industry with $1 billion to develop green technologies with black liquor, which is a by-product from the pulp making process that can be used as an alternative fuel.
With many countries investing billions of dollars in green energy programs, the Canadian industry was in falling behind its global competitors. The forest industry is rapidly integrating bioenergy and bioproducts with traditional logging operations. Lazar says the Canadian government’s decision to put money into developing green energy programs will help to keep jobs in Canada and will promote investment.
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