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VICTORIA — The Government of British Columbia is putting as much as $5.1 million towards seven forest-sector capital projects and five planning projects through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF).

For example, Maple Ridge’s Cedarland Forest Products Ltd. produces cedar lumber and profiled cedar products, such as siding, decking and panelling. It will receive as much as $1.3 million to buy and install new high-temperature kilns and a moulder, allowing the company to diversify its fibre sources to include underutilized species and reduce its reliance on old-growth cedar, explains a release. The project will also enable Cedarland to produce new thermally modified wood products, access new markets and create 23 new forestry jobs.

Gilbert Smith Forest Products is a family-owned-and-operated lumber mill in Barriere, manufacturing specialty cedar products. It will receive as much as $1.1 million for facility modernization and new equipment.

To date, the BCMJF has provided incentives with more than $600 million flowing into forest-product manufacturing.

Nearly one-quarter of all wood-product manufacturers in B.C have applied to the program, states the release, which has spurred growth in off-site, prefabricated housing-component manufacturing.

The BCMJF has also led to increased production of mass timber, engineered wood and bioproducts. The province has partnered with 69 forest-product manufacturers with more to come, dedicating more than $86 million to the industry.

For one example, in May 2024, the BCMJF contributed as much as $8 million to help Tolko Industries expand its Heffley Creek operation, including construction of a facility that will house a new Heffley Creek Engineered Wood Division.

“Tolko’s history began, and remains, strongly rooted in B.C.,” said Pino Pucci, CEO and president, Tolko Industries Ltd. in a statement. “We appreciate the B.C. government’s support of strategic investments that will accelerate our growth as a producer, marketer and distributor of specialty, value-added and engineered wood products.”