Recent stories by CBC raise significant concern about current forestry practices in Canada and their impacts on the health of Canada’s globally-significant boreal forest.

It is deeply alarming that Paper Excellence, a multinational company with a history of harmful logging practices and financial ties to China, is now in control of tens of millions of hectares of Canada’s public forests.

It is also concerning that federal and provincial government officials have been quietly lobbying against legislation in Europe and the United States to counter the deforestation and degradation of the boreal forest.

These revelations add to our ongoing concern about the lack of government transparency about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with industrial logging in Canada, which relies heavily on the clear-cutting of primary and old-growth forests.

Nature Canada calls on the federal government to:

1. 1. Agree to calls for an investigation by the House of Commons natural resources committee into the environmental and economic risks and harms caused by the growing foreign control of Canada’s forests
   2. Cease behind-closed-doors opposition to international efforts to promote sustainable logging
   3. Publicly acknowledge the degradation of Canadian forests being caused by clear-cut logging
   4. Transparently report the GHG emissions associated with logging – as it does for other sectors – in its upcoming National GHG Inventory and GHG Emissions Reduction Strategy reports

Over 90 international scientists and over 70 environment and health organizations have urged the federal government to more transparently and accurately report emissions associated with logging.

Michael Polanyi
Campaign and Policy Manager (Nature-based Climate Solutions)
Nature Canada
mpolanyi@naturecanada.ca
343-553-6060