Share
Unifor Local 89 President Alex Dumais presented testimony about the province’s forestry sector to the Ontario Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs on January 27.
Dumais outlined how the combination of softwood duties and Trump tariffs have contributed to record job losses in the sector as closures and curtailments spread across the province. He described how the losses impact the small communities who rely on the economic activity driven by forestry.
“The integrated nature of the forestry sector means the closure of a single mill creates direct job losses, but also spin-off job losses both upstream and downstream,” said Dumais. “Without a plan to transform the forestry sector at the same time, the industry will still face crisis and decline.”
During his testimony, Dumais shared Unifor’s Fight for Forestry policy solutions to get the sector back on track, including income supports for laid off workers (EI) and a national industrial strategy for forestry that coordinates government, industry, and labour’s efforts.
“With provincial and federal leadership in the forestry sector, there’s no reason we can’t have a thriving industry that once again provides good jobs and economic security for resource communities,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Canadian forestry can help drive a national home-building strategy. Now more than ever, we must be looking at Canadian solutions to Canadian economic challenges.”
