Forest cuts driven by tax cuts

Updated January 23, 2002 with table showing forestry office closures.

Core Review or Paying for Tax Cuts?

The Campbell government would have people believe that cuts to government services follow from a well thought out core review of what government ought to do. Freedom of information requests have been submitted for important core review documents that detail the impacts of program cuts and changes.

Now information is starting to leak out proving the cuts are financially driven. A document made available to some staff in the Ministry of Forests on Black Thursday (Background for Changes to the Organization Structure and Office Locations Ministry of Forests, January 17, 2002) says:

"Change Drivers (why this is necessary):
The office closures and staff reductions are driven primarily by our need to achieve a 35% budget reduction. This cannot be accomplished by simply doing across-the-board cuts if we are to maintain the capacity to deliver on our revised mandate. Organization changes will be implemented in conjunction with changes to our mandate and to forest policy, both of which are aimed at streamlining, and achieving increased effectiveness and greater certainty for the forest industry."

The paper goes on to reveal the Ministry's new organization and field services:

"Field: the overall framework and functions of the field organization, including the number and location of offices has been determined. Regions will report to Field Services at headquarters and districts will report to regions. Field offices will be part of the district. The Ministry will operate three regional offices, twenty-nine district offices and three field offices. These offices will deliver a range of field functions, depending upon the needs of the area. Not all district and field offices will house all functions. For example the Timber Sales Program will be co-located with about half of the district offices. In some cases one office will provide specialised services to neighbouring offices."

The Campbell government is trying to make a virtue out of not having across the board cuts. Across the board cuts are usually something like 5%. What the Campbell government has done is to cut as deeply as possible (farther than most thought possible). Rather than showing skill in tailoring the cuts, the approach shows viciousness in how far it goes.

According to the Ministry of Forests report, the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers helped to produce the structure described below.

There will be a Northern forest region based in Prince George with District Offices in Burns Lake, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Fort St. James, Kalum (Terrace), Mackenzie, Prince George, Bulkley (Smithers) and Vanderhoof. The Buckley office will be responsible for a field office in Dease Lake.

There will be a Southern forest region based in Kamloops with District Offices in 100 Mile House, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Kamloops, Nelson, Merritt, Alexis Creek, Revelstoke, Clearwater, Vernon, Williams Lake and Quesnel. A Nakusp field office will report to the Castlegar District Office. A Golden field office will report to the Revelstoke District Office.

There will be a Coastal forest region based in Nanaimo with District Offices in Campbell River, Port McNeill, Port Alberni, Powell River, Chilliwack, Squamish, Queen Charlotte Islands and Prince Rupert. A Duncan field office will report to Powell River.

The Ministry report was silent on the service impact of closing offices throughout the province, but a request to the Ministry's communication department produced the following.

Ministry of Forests Office Closures:

The following Forest Service regional and district offices will start closing March 31, 2003.

BY COMMUNITY:

Community	# of FTEs	Office
Bella Coola/ Hagensborg	43	Mid Coast Forest District Office
Clinton	3.5	Clinton Field Office
Creston	5	Creston Field Office
Fort St. John	42	Fort St. John District Office
Grand Forks	41	Boundary Forest District Office
Hazleton	41	Kispiox Forest District
Horsefly	38	Horsefly Forest District Office
Houston	50	Morice Forest District
Invermere	46	Invermere Forest District Office
Likely	3.5	Likely Field Office
Lillooet	39	Lillooet Forest District Office
McBride	25	Robson Valley Forest District Office
Nelson	87	Nelson Forest Region Office
Penticton	44	Penticton Forest District Office
Princeton	4	Princeton Field Office
Salmon Arm	46	Salmon Arm Forest District Office
Sechelt	9	Sechelt Field Office
Smithers	75	Prince Rupert Forest Region Office
Stewart	4	Stewart Field Office
Williams Lake	81	Cariboo Forest Region Office