 My name is Brenda Bailey, it's an honour to be here with you at the BC Natural Resources Forum as your Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Clay Clay Tene First Nation upon whose territory we're gathered today. Since being sworn in, I've had the pleasure of meeting so many people who are passionate about our province and our people. And it's great to be here at the BC Natural Resources Conference to speak to people about the future of British Columbia and the work that we can all do together. But I do also want to acknowledge that I know how difficult last week's news has been for everyone here in Prince George. I want to thank the people of Prince George for everything that you're doing to help families through a difficult time, and for all that you do to contribute to the well-being of every British Columbian in every part of our province. I'm here today for an important announcement that will support innovation, create good paying jobs, and help diversify the forest sustainable economies in every corner of our province. And before I turn it over to Premier David Ebe, I would like to thank my colleagues Bruce Ralston, our Minister of Forests, and Joel Mackay, CEO of Northern Development Initiatives Trust for joining us today. Now, to let you know more about our plans to support communities like Prince George, I'm pleased to welcome the Premier of British Columbia, the Honourable David Ebe, to the podium. Premier. Thanks so much, Brenda. It's wonderful to be here in Prince George and it's wonderful to see the sun coming from Vancouver. It's a pleasant change. I'll begin by acknowledging we're on the territory of the Clayclade today. And I'm so glad to see so many familiar faces from Prince George Media in the room as well. It's nice to be in person. We know these are challenging times for rural and remote British Columbia. People are concerned about jobs and particularly about being able to stay in their communities and have good family supporting jobs where they live. Our government knows that a strong rural BC is key to a strong British Columbia as a whole. That's why we're working hard to create opportunities across the province for everyone to build a good life. And that holds whether you live in downtown Vancouver, in the rain, or in Prince George in the sun. Looking at the actions of past governments, we know it doesn't work. Just cutting taxes for profitable corporations and hoping that things trickle down. That's an old model and we know it wasn't successful. Instead, we're using government investment to help diversify and make more resilient local economies. So today I'm very pleased to announce the creation of the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund. The fund will invest up to $90 million in rural communities supporting businesses with high value industrial and manufacturing projects. These investments in rural BC will help create sustainable, secure, good-paying jobs. Our whole province benefits when local workers and their families can build good lives in the rural communities they call home. The money is going to go where it's needed most, to areas affected that have experienced economic impacts from changes in the forestry sector, for example. We're looking for projects that diversify local economies and promote forestry value added innovation. Whether it's a forestry company seeking new equipment to make mass timber products or setting up a new bioplastics or biofuel facility in a rural community, we want to jumpstart these projects by diversifying and making resilient rural and remote economies and by promoting innovation in the forest industry, we're making communities more resilient. Rural and inclusive growth in rural and indigenous communities helps everyone benefit from a strong and sustainable economy. This fund builds on the $185 million our government announced last year as part of the Forest Worker Community Support initiatives. Now BC's forestry sector is certainly facing a challenge. More work needs to be done in partnership to support people in forestry-dependent communities. This will be top of mind for me and for every member of our government in the weeks and months to come. I'm committed to a province where everyone can build a good life, where people thrive in their communities and good sustainable jobs keep communities thriving for generations to come. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Premier. I'd also like to express that my thoughts, too, are worth with the workers and their families whose livelihoods have four years contributed to the success of the Canfor Pulp and Paper Mill here in Prince George. I myself come from a forestry background, I grew up in a forestry town, and I believe in the sustainability of this industry. The forest industry supported my family, and so I know firsthand the value of stable, good paying jobs for families, for communities, and for the province. And I believe it's government's job to support BC's forestry industry, to support workers, to support families, and to always put people first. That is at the heart of our stronger BC economic plan. And that's what this new BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund is all about. It's about having the backs of BC workers and companies so they can do what they do best. I want to take a moment to speak directly to the 300 impacted workers here in Prince George and to forestry workers across the province. I want you to know that this BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund is about creating opportunities for you because you're the engine that runs our province. And because if you're not working, our province isn't working. We will not leave you behind. The Premier and our government will have your back. The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund will be open and responsive to the needs of communities targeting investments that you tell us are right for your community. It could be investing in a forestry company so that they can upgrade aging equipment to support new product lines or smaller diameter tree harvesting and manufacturing. Or to help a manufacturing company expand, adopt new technologies and processes. The new fund could also help create opportunities for companies to adopt innovative processes to manufacture value added forestry products like mass timber. We've got the ability to supply grants of up to $10 million per capital project with this fund. While also supporting the project planning and business development stage. Creating opportunities to leverage the federal government and different funds that they have. And as with all new programs, we'll evaluate its success, adapt as needed to ensure that workers and companies are getting the supports that they need. We look forward to receiving applications from businesses and organizations investing in communities hardest hit by changes in the forestry sector. So we can help deliver the stable, well-paying jobs that workers and families need to build good lives in the communities that they love and want to stay in. That's what this is about. Together with support for value added technologies like mass timber, investments in education skills training and support for indigenous and non-indigenous communities to build new infrastructure and diversify local economies. The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund will help give communities the tools they need to build, to innovate, to succeed and to grow. Because an economy that is built for all, an economy that is built for workers and families right here in Prince George is an economy built to succeed. Thank you. I'd now like to introduce my colleague, Bruce Raulston, BC's Minister of Forests. Bruce. Thanks very much, Minister Bailey. And thanks to everyone for joining us here today. I too want to acknowledge around the territory of the traditional territory of the Clay-Clay today. As BC's Minister of Forests, I'm very excited about what today's announcement will mean for forest workers and forest communities. The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund will support businesses to plan and launch shovel-ready projects with a focus on value added innovation in the forestry sector. This could be a pulp mill that wants to retrofit to start making paper packaging instead of newsprint, or a sawmill that wants to add a new product line to manufacture mass timber or other specialty wood products. These investments will create opportunities and good family-supporting jobs. We know that the industry is facing challenges, clearly. Lumber prices have plummeted compared to what they were a year ago, and the annual allowable cut has declined due to the end of the beetle-kill harvest and unprecedented wildfires across the province. But we also know that forestry is and will remain a foundation of BC's economy for generations to come. British Columbians expect that we get the most value from our natural resources while better sharing the benefits of our forests with local communities and workers. And that's exactly why we're taking action today to accelerate the transition from high volume to high value production and to build a stronger forest industry. By driving new investments in innovation, we can make sure that more value-added products are manufactured in British Columbia, fewer raw logs are exported each year, and most importantly, more jobs are created for every tree harvested. A more diverse and innovative industry will also be more resilient to the volatile swings we've seen in the market in recent years. Everyone agrees that we need to move past the boom and bust cycle that too often leaves forestry workers and the communities in which they live behind. This means working together to invest in value-added manufacturing and capitalizing on the knowledge and creativity of our people and businesses. The new BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund will help us do exactly that. Building on the $185 million invested in Budget 2022, this is another series of provincial initiatives to support forest workers, and we look forward to announcing more details of our plan in the days and weeks ahead. Thank you. I'll now pass it back to Minister Bailey. Thank you very much, Minister Ralston. Next I'm pleased to introduce Joel Mackay, who's the CEO of the Northern Development Initiative Trust, who's been doing amazing work to grow and diversify economies here in Prince George and throughout the North. Joel. Good afternoon. Thank you, Minister Bailey. Premier Ebe, Minister Ralston, ladies and gentlemen, I'm very pleased to be here today for this announcement, which comes at a crucial time for Northern British Columbia. For those of you who may not be aware, Northern Development Initiative Trust is an independent, non-profit organization that provides funding to local and indigenous governments, not-for-profits, and small and medium-sized businesses throughout Northern BC. Our mandate is to grow the economy in the North through community development, capacity building, housing, and business development programs. In the last 17 years, we have invested nearly $450 million into more than 5,000 projects in communities throughout the North, leveraging close to $2 billion in investment in the region and creating thousands of jobs. 643 of those projects have been through our three business development programs, which offer rebates on consulting services and support innovative projects that increase the competitiveness of local businesses in traditional industries. When we look at the climate and geography of the North, those traditional industries such as mining, oil and gas, agriculture, and of course, forestry are here to stay. But they also often need to pivot and diversify in order to thrive. I am reminded of a Prince George company that, through one of our business programs, was able to adapt forestry equipment for drilling applications in different industrial sectors such as pipeline, power line, and mining projects, driving new profitability. Communities, businesses, and people in the North are resilient, innovative, and determined. For a long time, we've known, and communities throughout rural British Columbia have known, that investments to expand manufacturing in our communities drive job growth, diversification, and innovation. This is one of those times when additional investment is needed. That's why I welcome this commitment of $90 million from the province to help support economic diversification and manufacturing growth, which in turn will generate new jobs in our rural communities. It's not a silver bullet, but it is a welcome investment that will aid our communities through this period of both extreme growth due to LNG and transition in the forestry sector. For my part, I look forward to working with the province and businesses throughout our region to see if we can get as much of that $90 million as possible invested in Northern BC. Thank you. Thank you very much, Joel, and I appreciate that last sentiment. Well done. We know that ongoing shifts in the markets, combined with global uncertainty and inflation, have shown us that we need to diversify the economy through clean and inclusive growth, that we need to innovate and add value to the forest sector, and that we need to build on BC's strengths as a clean energy powerhouse with one of the continent's leading climate action plans. The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund is a key action of the stronger BC Economic Plan and provides another tool that will help us achieve our goals and deliver real results for people. That concludes our announcement. I'd now like to welcome the Premier back up to the podium for questions from the media. Thanks, Brenda. Just before we go to questions, maybe it's an opportunity for me to give you a quick update about I had a meeting this morning with the workers from the Can4 mill that are facing shut down the loss of 300 jobs. So workers and Minister Ralston, Minister Bailey and myself had a wide-ranging conversation about making sure that the workers who are affected by this shutdown are looked after. And I made the commitment to them, as did both ministers, that we will be standing with them and supporting them through this incredibly difficult time for them and their families. The provincial government is there for them. We will be reaching out to Can4 to have similar conversations with them to make sure that this transition for those workers is obviously a difficult process but is as painless as possible for them and they transition into employment that is rewarding and supportive of them and their families. And I'm very grateful to them for making the time to meet with us, to update us on what's going on on the ground. It's incredibly important for politicians to hear directly from people who are affected and we're going to keep that line of communication open with them going forward and I look forward to future conversations with them as we work through this difficult time. Thank you and we'll begin our questions now from the members of the media. Each member of the media will have the opportunity to ask one question and one follow-up. Those on the phone line, please press star 1 to signal that you do want a question. We're going to start on the floor today with Fran Yanor from Northern Pete. Go ahead Fran. Hi Premier. Just a curiosity I guess it's like there's less fiber, less forest, less wood. Your government has and you specifically since you were sworn in has committed to protecting more of the 30% by 2030 enshrining biodiversity in legislation. Where is this wood coming from? Thanks Fran. So we know that the forest industry in British Columbia faces a huge challenge. The beetle kill wood that has been supplying the industry for a long time is running out. We've had massive and historic forest fires wiping out additional timber supply that mills rely on of all different kinds. We still do have wood in this province but what we have to do is get more jobs out of the trees that we have, out of the wood that we have and that we can access. So an example is we cannot be leaving wood slash piles in the bush or burning them when we need that feedstock for pulp mills. We have burned a damaged wood from forest fire that can be leveraged into among other things pulp or biofuels. We need to be more creative with the supply that we do have to create more jobs for British Columbians. It is a challenging time but it's also a time of innovation and that's exactly what today's announcement is about. Those people in rural communities that see the opportunity for creating jobs in this sector and there are opportunities. We see it right here in Prince George around for example the biofuels sector. We see those opportunities coming out. We want to support them and this $90 million is going to go a long way to doing that. Hello Fran. Well I've just changed my mind. On the biofuels question, up to, I mean I heard two years ago one of the bio pellet companies was using 30% of their supply came from standing trees. So originally they were supposed to come from slash piles and no refuse. Are you supportive of cutting down trees for pellet supply? Well it's important that we look at timber supply and make sure that we're using it to create the highest and best value and especially in terms of return to local communities, jobs and financial return for local communities. In some communities with new growth that may be biofuel. In others it will be value added products that might be trim products or it might be decking products or you name it. And so what this fund is about, it's not about government deciding oh we think this is the area or we think this is the area. This is about bring us your best proposals from across the province. What are the opportunities in your local community that you see? The things that you look at as a business person or as a member of a local community say I can't believe government isn't taking advantage of this and we'll support that work. We'll support both the business planning process. There's one stream of funding for that as well as the capital funding. Up to 20% of the overall proposal plus up to a maximum of $10 million. So a significant potential investment for major projects. There are lots of opportunities in rural BC I believe that very firmly. I also believe very firmly in the creativity of rural British Columbians and the entrepreneurship of rural British Columbians and that's what this fund is about. Next we're going to go to Cheryl Jan from CKBG. Hi. Describe for me a project that might catch your eye with this fund. So a number of different projects were outlined by the ministers. It could be something as straightforward as an existing producer that sees a new product line that they were thinking about going into but they couldn't quite make the capital numbers work on their own or they wanted to do some additional business planning and understanding the availability of a market to move into that area. So it could be a value added wood product. Mass timber was mentioned a number of times certainly but in addition any kind of additional value added wood products. Pult mill that could produce wood based cutlery to replace single use plastic both the provincial government and federal government are moving to phase out single use plastics. So things like paper bags, cutlery, other single uses that could be produced from wood products. So these are examples of the kinds of opportunities that are out there. Follow-up Jenner? In your mind listening to some of the comments that were made here by both the ministers and Joel do you think that the traditional forestry is a sunset industry? No we believe very firmly that forestry is a sustainable industry for British Columbia that's why we're investing so much in planting that's why we're such strong believers in partnerships between local communities, indigenous communities and workers. What I see happening though is a shift to a greater community focus. Previously I think our industries were focused on huge companies and big international models. Increasingly we see that we're getting more jobs per tree out of community managed forest and community focused initiatives and this fund recognizes that. It encourages people in local communities to identify those opportunities, business owners to identify those opportunities and bring them forward to us. Next we're going to go to Ted Clark from the Prince George Citizen. Go ahead Ted. Premier Ubi you mentioned value-added manufacturing in the lumber in the forest industry as a possible target for this funding are there any I mean bring forest products comes to mind there are several at least one big one in the city have you had any discussions with any of those businesses that will benefit from this fund right away. So the this work comes out of a number of discussions with groups in the sector and so in particular there's a there's a pulp advocacy group advocating for additional opportunities out of the pulp sector for example and consistently what we're hearing is that there is a need for business planning and capital to create opportunities in the sector to transition to to getting more jobs per tree what this does is this announcement today opens the conversation we're encouraging those businesses now to reach out to the Ministry of Jobs and the Ministry of Forests to bring forward their applications and their proposals this is the start of the conversation with those direct project proponents with Prince George pulp closing its pulp line can you see it a day where that could be retrofitted to accommodate a value at it or some kind of other industry than what they've been doing there yeah that's a great question we are seeing pulp mills that have been shuttered in the province where people are bringing forward innovative proposals about reopening those plants to produce different things everything from energy to to as I say single-use paper products and so those are the kinds of opportunities we're looking for for I'm sure it's all very fresh in terms of the decision that's been made by that company but certainly we are seeing across the province that those older mills these kinds of proposals coming forward and this product this initiative today will help support those kinds of proposals next up we're going to have Betsy Chompiner from CDC news go ahead Betsy thank you Premier what exactly will you do to limit raw log exports and when so I might turn part of this over to Minister Ralston but government has put in place restrictions around raw log exports and one of the reasons why I believe that we're in the situation around supply that we're facing is that raw log exports were allowed to proceed for many years unrestricted by the previous administration and it resulted in logs passing by mills pulp mills and saw mills that were creating local jobs in order to be exported we need to get more jobs out of our woods for British Columbians and that will continue to be a focus of our policies including today's announcement about finding those opportunities to add value to these natural products can you be more specific I still don't know what your government is going to do to limit raw log exports and when well the program we put in place requires that if you wish to export logs you have to first offer the logs at that price domestically and so that is one of the approaches that we've taken to raw log exports but I think that ultimately what we need to do is projects like this which is to create the additional value for those products in British Columbia so that those logs are worth more they're worth more to British Columbians in terms of jobs and financially there are a number of different products we could be producing from our logs right here but this initiative we're announcing today recognizes that there's a bit of a hurdle we have to get over whether it's in business planning or capital expenses to realize that promise that's there next question we're going to go to the phone lines Richard Zispin from Global News you're up next go ahead Richard previous thanks for taking my question what can the province do to support retraining of jobs in Prince George to try to get more value added jobs and is there a program the province can establish to encourage people from other parts of British Columbia including Metro Vancouver to move to the north and take up these jobs so we do have a announced in budget 2022 185 million dollar fund that's exactly it has exactly that purpose providing opportunities for workers who are older to bridge them to retirement for workers who are younger to retrain for jobs that are available and and there are opportunities definitely for the workers that are laid off at Canfork to move into other jobs in our province but it's key that they have the opportunity to access the training and it's also key and a focus for us that ideally they're able to access those jobs in their home communities that they don't have to leave Prince George to access those jobs that's what today's announcements about it's about finding those ways that we can support the creation of additional jobs close to home for people that are affected by closures like this follow Richard unrelated topic for your LNG Canada says that for its next phase they are going to have a natural gas powered turbine rather than an electrical one with a phasing into electricity eventually are you worried about the environmental impacts on carbon emissions because of this and what more could a DC hydro and extension the province had done to ensure that the turbines were always on electricity from the beginning our focus is a provincial government is around electrifying our entire economy British Columbia has a huge advantage of clean energy and clean lower-cost energy and we need to leverage that advantage to address our carbon emissions and hit our targets that applies across every sector from LNG forestry mining to the vehicles we drive and the fuels we use to heat our homes electricity is our advantage it supports jobs here in BC keeps the air cleaner there are huge advantages for us in that transition and my understanding though is that LNG Canada phase 2 has not yet reached a final investment decision so we'll continue to to work with a proponent to make sure that we're hitting our emissions targets those emissions targets are key to our government and a priority of all of ours next we can go to Katie de Rosa from Vancouver Sun go hi premier have you mentioned that for example one one project could be eligible for up to ten million dollars so with ninety million dollars over three years is that enough to really prop up such a struggling industry well we're certainly prepared I I hope we have the problem of this proposal being oversubscribed because that means with with credible projects because that means that this is exactly what we need to create jobs and opportunity across the province if we are successful in this and in this being fully subscribed our government will of course look at additional opportunities to invest in support proposals in rural British Columbia and our focus with this is rural British Columbia and and we'll have more to say in the weeks and months to come about support across British Columbia for other projects this is one initiative of many our government has to create sustainable jobs in our province deal follow-up Katie yes please and would there be a caveat in the funding that I mean a certain number of jobs have to be created because sometimes innovation means you know robotics and other methods that actually reduce the number of employees that a company has so how would you ensure that jobs are actually created with these funds thanks I think I would be best to pass that over to the minister for jobs to address thank you very much Premier and thank you Katie for the question there are a number of criteria that will be considered as these proposals come forward and the number of jobs created the quality of jobs created are definitely criteria that are being looked at this is about driving innovation and economic diversity but we know what we want to get out of this fund is well-paying jobs so that's a really important criteria as we look at proposals going forward thanks next question we'll stay on the line for Lisa used up from City News go ahead Lisa hi Premier I'm asking about a different topic here speaking with a great 11 students story today who could have my job probably yours incredibly well spoken who is part of the campaign to press you to keep the promise of providing free prescription contraception they have a billboard that you're going to see when you come to Victoria on the highway here so I'm wondering will that be in the upcoming budget and if not when well I know it's a priority for British Columbians that reproductive health is a priority for our government and it is we see what happens when issues of reproductive health are politicized when we look at the United States and I'm very proud to be part of a government that prioritizes reproductive health as part of our overall health strategy we made a commitment to British Columbians around free birth control and we are going to keep that commitment to British Columbians British Columbians are seeing rising costs and a number of fronts and anything we can do to assist British Columbians with the cost of everyday life including birth control we're going to do that the policy work is underway and I look forward to having more to share in the months ahead do a follow-up Lisa so is there a possibility that we could see this in the upcoming budget and if not then how long do you think is an acceptable period of time to wait for those who can be pregnant curing a heavier burden well the budget policy work for our next government budget is underway right now and I won't be making any announcements today but it will it will certainly something I'm looking forward to great and for the next question we're going to come back to the floor from Jack Moulton from Prince George Post go ahead Jack so Premier while you're scheduled to speak during your keynote there will be a rally outside in support of forestry workers and they argue that instead of environmental or government policy reasons that consolidation in the lumber industry is to blame for maybe the state of the industry what does the government plan to do if anything to hold these corporations accountable thanks on the immediate question of the can for shutdown the Minister of Forest the Minister of Jobs and I will be reaching out to camp for and and setting up a discussion with them about their plans for the future of the site around supports for workers that are affected by their recent decision and and we'll make sure that those workers are looked after for the larger issue of the future of our forests and jobs and opportunities that are available there we're certainly aware of the issues of making sure that the trees that we have available are going to create as many jobs as possible so this funding is part of that work that we're doing but we've also done other work around tenure in the province and how tenure is held and so on through legislation we need to orient our forestry industry to have a sustainable future to be part of our low carbon future and to support families for generations as it always has this is heavy lifting the Mr. Forest will be doing but I have every confidence that he and our government will be able to deliver on that and I think for that rally out front supporting forestry workers I think that every British Colombian could be standing out there we all believe in a strong forestry industry and we all support those workers especially workers that are affected by decisions like this to a follow-up check great and that includes our press conference for today thanks much for joining us