Paul Lansbergen - Forest Products Association of Canada

The following is one post in a series: "Reporting Back: Green Party of Canada Policy Conference, Halifax"

I'm proud that the Green Party invited someone from the forestry industry to speak at our conference. That'd be sort of like the Conservatives inviting a guest speaker from EGALE or OCAP, or the NDP inviting the Fraser Institute. Lansbergen was funny about it, too. "Hello," he began his presentation, "my name is Paul and I represent a large final emitter."

The point was to understand how these policy changes were going to affect different industries, using forest products as an example. Lansbergen told us that his industry is currently taxed more than the oil or mining industries, even though they're arguably less-damaging. He also gave statistics on how much of the Canadian forest products industry meets various certifications (including FSC), and how far ahead we are of some other countries. Without giving specifics, he claimed that his industry has already met Kyoto "five-times over."

Overall, Lansbergen's argument was that good behaviour needs to be recognized and rewarded by government, and that the effect of any policies on the economy and jobs must be seriously considered.