IT’S NEVER good to lose a cabinet minister who has taken such an active interest in the area, but the shifting of Pat Bell from his position as forests minister to a portfolio labelled jobs, tourism and innovation may not be such a bad thing for the northwest.
That’s because Mr. Bell, in a series of visits to the area, pushed innovation to create a new kind of forest industry which would then, naturally, lead to more jobs.
It was at his urging, for example, that northwest wood licence holders took steps to pool their fibre supplies in hopes of attracting investors.
The concept is still very much a work in progress but the groundwork for a more cooperative relationship among licence holders has been set.
And in his new portfolio, Mr. Bell also has international marketing and international trade, which includes selling wood to China. There’s lots of potential in this area to shift from sending only whole logs to China to adding value first.
Perhaps it is because Mr. Bell is from Prince George himself, but very few cabinet ministers in recent years seem to have taken the time to learn about the northwest.
If there’s some way for Mr. Bell to keep on urging the forest industry here to find new ways of doing things, then the knowledge of the northwest that he accumulated from his previous portfolio combined with the purpose of his new job can only help the northwest.
This is an editorial appearing in The Terrace Standard of March 23, 2011.