FORESTRY LEADERS SUPPORT MEASURES TO IMPROVE CANADIAN COMPETITIVENESS AND ACCELERATE INNOVATION
The release of a federal government competitiveness report is an important call to action requiring a commitment from Ottawa that it is prepared to improve Canada’s global competitiveness by delivering more agile regulations, improved infrastructure, and continuing to develop a workforce for the future while accelerating innovation, say leaders from Canada’s forest products sector.
The report released yesterday by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains entitled “The Innovation and Competitiveness Imperative: Seizing Opportunities for Growth”, contains recommendations from six sectors with high growth potential, including Resources of the Future, which includes Canada’s forest products sector and its workers.
“In the face of an uncertain global trading environment and when competing countries are lowering tax rates and streamlining regulations, the release of today’s report couldn’t come at a more critical time,” said Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) CEO Derek Nighbor. “We must maintain the Canadian advantage that includes securing our position as an environmental leader and supporting important social programs. In order to do so, we need the federal government to make a clear commitment to global investors that it is serious about addressing some of the things that are holding us back,” Nighbor added.
The innovation agenda represents a huge opportunity for Canadian forestry to do more to support our move to a lower carbon economy. The report calls for the strengthening of an innovation ecosystem that fosters public-private partnerships, accelerates deployment and adoption of advanced technologies, supports skills training, integrates innovators with the mainstream supply chain, and showcases Canadian innovations.
“The Economic Strategy Tables outline a made-in-Canada roadmap for competitiveness. By recognizing innovation ecosystems and public-private partnerships, such as FPInnovations, as being critical to increasing competitiveness, the Economic Strategy Tables have the potential to set the foundation for the country’s future prosperity,” said Stéphane Renou, President & CEO FPInnovations.
Canada’s forest products sector looks forward to working with the federal government in the weeks and months ahead to advance this long-term vision for sector competitiveness as we work towards our shared goals of increasing strategic investments in Canadian forestry businesses, our workforce, and our communities.
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FPAC provides a voice for Canada’s wood, pulp, and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade, and environmental affairs. The $69-billion-a-year forest products industry represents 2% of Canada’s GDP and is one of Canada’s largest employers operating in hundreds of communities and providing 230,000 direct jobs across the country.
About FPInnovations
FPInnovations is a not-for-profit world leader that specializes in the creation of scientific solutions in support of the Canadian forest sector’s global competitiveness and responds to the priority needs of its industry members and government partners. It is ideally positioned to perform research, innovate, and deliver state-of-the-art solutions for every area of the sector’s value chain, from forest operations to consumer and industrial products. FPInnovations’ R&D laboratories are located in Québec City, Montréal, and Vancouver, and it has technology transfer offices across Canada. For more information about FPInnovations, visit www.fpinnovations.ca.
For more information contact:
Cheryl Miltimore
Director, Communications and Labour Policy
Forest Products Association of Canada
cmiltimore@fpac.ca 613-563-1441 x303
Follow us on Twitter: @FPAC_APFC
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