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FPAC lauds national task force report’s call-to-action on stronger supply chains

Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) issued a statement applauding the latest report released by the National Supply Chain Task Force. The association welcomes the report’s action-oriented recommendations to accelerate change across Canada’s vital trade infrastructure. For Canadian businesses to remain competitive on the world stage, there is a need to develop a more competitive, efficient and effective supply chain system, says FPAC.

The report titled Action. Collaboration. Transformation. Final Report of The National Supply Chain Task Force 2022 recognizes several shared perspectives among key economic sectors like forestry urging government to address pressing supply chain performance issues. This includes the advancement of future-ready infrastructure, improving the reliability of freight rail service, and developing the labour force of tomorrow.

In response to the report’s publication, FPAC president and CEO Derek Nighbor issued the following statement:

“Canada’s forest sector provides 200,000 direct jobs across over 600 communities, many of which are hundreds of kilometres from larger cities and key customer markets. To meet increasing global demand for forest products, keep forestry communities working, and improve economic conditions from coast-to-coast, we need the system to perform.

At present, the emissions- and cost-saving potential of an efficient transportation supply chain are being lost – FPAC estimates suggest that an underperforming rail system has cost our sector roughly $2.6 billion in lost sales and other costs over the past year, and forced historic volumes of our products onto costlier and more emissions-intensive long-haul trucks.

With the publication of this report, the National Supply Chain Task Force has moved beyond information gathering and consultation and has identified important opportunities for collaboration across all levels of government to address disruptions in Canada’s trade infrastructure and labour market landscape. Now it is essential that these recommendations become actions.

FPAC urges the federal government to begin implementing these recommendations, with continued guidance and collaboration from stakeholders, so we can keep providing renewable, recyclable and sustainably-sourced forest products to businesses and people in Canada and around the world, now and well into the future. The future prosperity of our northern and rural forestry communities depends on it.”