Fredericton – On November 20, 2019 Green Party Leader David Coon tabled a bill to amend the Crown Lands and Forests Act to ensure that New Brunswick mills purchase more wood from private woodlots and that the private woodlot owners are fairly compensated for the wood they produce. This bill also bans the spraying of herbicides on Crown forests.

“Successive governments have failed to implement the Auditor General’s 2015 recommendations to ensure private woodlot owners have fair access to the wood market as required by the Crown Lands and Forests Act; this bill will remedy that by requiring private wood to be purchased through the wood marketing boards and ensuring that private wood makes up a third of the wood consumed by the mills,” says David Coon.

“Woodlot owners, like farmers and fishermen, are essential to the viability of rural economies, but they need to be able to make a reasonable living. This bill will ensure they have equitable access to the marketplace and appropriate bargaining power, through their marketing boards, to ensure fair prices for their products.” says Coon.

The bill will also ban the aerial spraying of glyphosate on Crown forests, which will eliminate the risks it poses to ecosystems and species in our forests and waterways.

If you want to know more and support this bill, click here.