Clark and Harper's "SYMPATHETIC ADMINISTRATION" of "harvesting" of Canada's Natural Resources.

'It may be said that the boom years of the late 2000's turned into a major recession in 2008 due to Subprime mortgages in the USA, the adverse effect of which were still felt as late as 2012.  The decline  in North America construction from 2008 onward had an immediate and dramatic impact on the sale of lumber, which rippled back through the industries which shipped, milled, transported, harvested, and otherwise dealt with the timber resource.  The result for industry and workers was widespread layoffs and downsizing of operations.  The provincial government's response to this situation was to institute a policy which relaxed many of the standards in harvesting practices and cut control levels with with the timber companies would have had to comply.'

So far, so good, but in our recession, it just isn't the "harvesting practices" of lumber, that has Christy Clark's provincial government introducing "sympathetic administration" of regulation, its been extended to include Stephen Harper's Federal Government on the "harvesting of Fish,Oil, Coal, Uranium and Natural Gas".

And where does their sympathy lie, not with British Columbians, not with Canadians, but with tankers and freighters bound for Asia, to create wealth over there.  Very little in the way of long term jobs is being created here, in Canada.


"Tearing" a couple of pages out of a Library document, there's this, with the first paragraph below paraphrased to create the first paragraph of this Post, above.  

 
 Page 7 of 42

THE INTRODUCTION OF "SYMPATHETIC ADMINISTRATION"  

The "boom" years of the late 1970's turned into a major recession in 1981, the adverse effects of which were still felt as late as 1985. The decline in North American construction from 1981 onward had an immediate and dramatic impact on the sale of lumber, which rippled back through the industries which shipped, milled, transported, harvested, and otherwise dealt with the timber resource. The result for industry and workers was widespread layoffs and downsizing of operations.  The provincial government's response to this situation was to institute a policy which relaxed many of the standards in harvesting practices and cut control levels with which the timber companies would have had to comply.

This policy was known as "sympathetic administration".  While this name accurately describes the intent of the policy, it may also have had the effect of reinforcing in-some people's minds the opinion that an inappropriate closeness existed.between government and industry. Such notions of regulatory "capture" - where the regulated entities effectively control the regulators and their policies - have not been investigated in this report.  This office has, however, reviewed the documentation by which sympathetic administration came into being and was later discontinued.   snip.....

Keep reading the original document, because it turns out that it was the Deputy Minister that did it. 

Snip.....Sympathetic administration formally began with a directive on October 1, 1981, from Deputy Minister T.M. Apsey to all Regional Managers and Branch Directors, which included these observations:
A number of companies are experiencing cash flow problems and difficulty in meeting cut control requirements. We are no doubt going to receive a large number of requests for relief on cut control and patience in collecting accounts receivable.  We have some flexibility in our policies and must be prepared to exercise this flexibility on an individual basis. While we have the responsibility to manage and protect Crown interest, we also have a responsibility of maintaining a viable industry.

(Note: check out this from the Apsey link above, second result down) page 14 to 17 of 36


Is the government going to relax cutting regulations on Howe Sound to create a patchwork quilt of barren land, so too for Whistler, so too for the Province's Inside Passage forest.

Page 19 of 42

What is again apparent is the critical importance of silviculture, as reflected in the urgency of memoranda circulated at the District level; this also reflects well on the professionalism of the District staff. What became evident in the course of this investigation is that Doman Industries, with respect to all lands which it has harvested in the Mid-Coast District, including lands which were cut in trespass, remains legally required to carry out its silvicultural obligations as established by the terms of the tenure documents, and more recently by amendments to the Forest Act making mandatory the PHSP. The PHSP represents a significant advance in silvicultural administration; it also provides a more effective vehicle by which silvicultural obligations can be defined and legally enforced.

With the Pine Beetle devastation, there appears to be a lack of silvicultural regulations being enforced as required by law...... what was it that that Independent MLA said in the Legislature........that caused quite a stir and the loss of 12,000 jobs?


PS    In the Apsey Link on Page 22 there's a bonus:
      "The Great Herbicide Debate ....... but few clear answers"

Bottom of Page 23 there's a background on "Gordon Shrum's preferred drink... 2-4-D... actually its the statistics of how much BC applied to BC.... Astounding!!!!!   The Apsey link is from a magazine published in 1982.