A7

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Why the urgent need for so much wood when only 16 per cent of our mills are in operation? Increasing the volume of wood taken from our forests doesn't make sense. It won't sustain our communities or our environment.

Recent public hearings revealed that New Brunswickers want responsible stewardship of their Crown Lands. What does this mean? First, it means protecting and promoting our diverse and complex Acadian Forest. It also means the people of New Brunswick cannot fold under pressure from bankers and big business that insist on widespread clear cutting, herbicide spraying and plantation concepts.

As intended, recent reports from bankers and think tanks have created impulse reactions. We've already seen how incapable large corporations are with our forests. Twenty five per cent of our public forest is now less than 20 years old as a result of recent clear cutting. How can more of this kind of damage support the livelihood of so many New Brunswickers or sustain our forests?

New Brunswick's land base is divided into three categories: private (30 per cent), freehold (22 per cent) and Crown (48 per cent). Crown Lands are held in trust on behalf of present and future generations of New Brunswickers by the Department of Natural Resources and Energy. This is legislated in the Crown Lands and Forest Act (1982), where in Section 3(1) it states that the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy has statutory responsibilities to the people of New Brunswick. This makes him responsible for the development, utilization, protection and integrated management of the resources of Crown Lands.

The NDP cannot support recommendations that allow Crown Lands to be managed by an industrial approach that benefits large corporations and does nothing for our communities. Without question, Crown Land belongs to the people of this province. The best plan for our forests will continue to come with the input from our people in our communities, not corporate speculators.

This space is available for items from any political party interested in sending in submissions. The above was submitted by Roger Duguay, Leader, on behalf of the New Brunswick NDP.