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Former director rebukes FRBC
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GORDON HOEKSTRA
A former Forest Renewal B.C. (FRBC) director is criticizing the Crown agency
for not treating the North fairly and doling out money to prop up ailing businesses.
John Brink, who held a one-year term, charged Tuesday that the agency _ which
is responsible for growing better and more trees with funding from a portion
of Crown timber harvesting fees _ should either be scrapped or ``seriously''
overhauled.
Brink's claims were disputed by Forest Renewal officials.
Brink has this winter begun to publicly criticize forestry policy, saying its
time for the North to speak up.
Brink claims Forest Renewal has become politicized, and that money that should
be reinvested in things like treeplanting is being doled out to ailing businesses
on the pretense of saving jobs. Brink would not name any particular businesses,
nor did he provide figures. He also said he while 50% of Forest Renewal's funding
comes from the North, he'd be surprised if more than 25% in invested back in
the region.
``I question whether we ever got any value from FRBC,'' said Brink, who heads
up Brink Forest Products, a value-added wood producer, in Prince George. ``In
my view, we did not.''
Forest Renewal spokesman Paul Corns said while it's true there is some inequity
between the funding from the North and how much is returned, the gap is narrowing.
Corns outlined that:
- Since FRBC's inception six years ago, 52% of FRBC's funding has come from
the North's Peace-Omineca, Skeena and Cariboo regions. About 40% has been
reinvested in those regions.
- $543.6 million was spent on the North during the first five years on tree
planting and restoring watersheds, six times more than on the value-added
sector, community and workforce initiatives.
- Forest Renewal has made $81 million in loans and loan guarantees, about
half of that emergency credit tied to plans recommended by B.C.'s Job Protection
Commission. The default rate on the emergency credit is only 5% and half that
has already been repaid.
- When you couple the emergency loans with other loans, including those funneled
through Community Future Development corporations, 8,200 jobs have been created
or protected.
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