Who's watching the woods?

Firing up to half of the staff of the Department of Natural Resources and turning over the job of watching our forests to industry will leave the people of New Brunswick without the independent eyes and ears they need to tell them what is happening with public forests on the Crown lands.

Adding insult to injury, in New Brunswick, industry wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants government out of the business of watching over forestry operations and running forest planning, but it still wants government to increase the money it is currently paying out to support the industry, from $23 million to $50 million per year (over $1 billion over the next 30 years). The companies say they will foot some of the bill only if the government provides them with financial guarantees for a return on investment from their expenditures.

In the long run, New Brunswick would be better off to retain strong public control of public forests. This will help the public decide what is best for our forests and ensure there is adequate planning and supervision of forestry operations.