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Coleman's inaction in dealing with the crisis in the Forest Industry is catching up with him. The Steelworkers Union publicly asked for his resignation 2 weeks ago, and now the NDP have demanded it.
Now it's your turn. Demand Rich Coleman's resignation for the future of BC's forests, it is high time for a new Forest Minister.
Go to www.bc4sale.org and sign the petition.
Forestry woes put pressure on Coleman
May 14, 2008The charges?
Incompetence in the administration of forest policy and indifference to the plight of thousands of laid-off workers in the industry he is supposed to be guiding.
New Democrat Leader Carole James returned from a visit to various Interior towns convinced it was time to elevate the level of criticism when it comes to Coleman's file. So after three years of calling for more from him, this week the NDP switched tacks and called instead for his head.
It's a standard Opposition move, notable only for being so late in coming. As far as political strategy is concerned, New Democrats probably should have played this card months ago. Coming now, it looks a bit like the amazing breadth and depth of the forest crisis has only just dawned on the NDP.
But demanding his resignation does raise the level of concern about the forestry collapse and the level of intrigue about who or what is responsible. Coleman's show trial was a crash course in all the threats, problems and crises that are hurtling back and forth in the forest business.
It had its dramatic moments.
Charged with giving up in the face of 40 mill closures and thousands of layoffs just this year, Coleman hissed: "I never give up."
The immediate cause of James's decision to raise the stakes was her visit to a downed mill in Kamloops, where with black humour they hosted a closure party.
"They're looking for leadership, but all they get from the minister of forests is a minister with no hope," James said.
"If he can't get the job done, if he says his hands are tied, why doesn't he step aside and let someone move in who will do the job?"
Coleman's response was to start listing all the measures the government has come up to cope with the fact that B.C.'s biggest customer has collapsed and almost every external factor is working against the industry.
But those are all mitigation measures. There's a lot more going on to help people out of the industry than there is to keep them coming to work each day.
Coleman's defence since the start of his term has been to question what could be done in the middle of such an economic catastrophe.
The U.S. sub-prime mortgage fiasco stopped the housing market dead in its tracks, the dollar exchange flipped against B.C. producers and the pine beetle is devouring much of the Interior.
Coleman has been reciting that litany of things out of his control for most of his tenure as forests minister.
After his grilling in the legislature, he emerged to say it's disingenuous of the NDP to suggest someone in B.C. could change all the international market forces.
And he adopted a new line of defence: Wait until 2009.
He said all the experts he talks to are assuring him that the B.C. forest industry will rebound in about 18 months and be running full-out by 2010.
That's a very politically convenient scenario, because it runs past the next election.
It translates to: "Just elect us one more time, you'll see."
Coleman has a point. It's absurd to think someone could flip a switch and turn the forest industry on again.
But there are other knocks against him. The longer he recites "It's not my fault" the more tiresome it gets.
He doesn't get a lot of respect from other leaders in the industry. They issue grudging statements of support for him, but mostly when they are explicitly requested.
And when he has stepped in to help -- by rejigging tree farm requirements and opening up big chunks of Vancouver Island to subdivisions -- he's antagonized more people than he helped.
New Democrats indicted him on a few other counts yesterday, then moved on to other things.
"I was an RCMP officer for eight years," Coleman said in response to intense heckling. "And that insult of me personally would never bother me because I've heard it all."
The judge, jury and executioner in this little drama is Premier Gordon Campbell. He ignored all the NDP calls, applauded Coleman at all the right times, and kept himself busy taking notes and reading files.
But that doesn't mean the beleaguered forests minister is out of trouble.
It just means the verdict is pending.
