Should Canada allow the logging of old growth forests?statsdiscuss
Conservative’s answer: YesThe Sierra Club of Canada released grades based on combined scoring for the party's platforms and replies to a questionnaire sent to every party. The Conservative Party had failed to reply to the questionnaire and received an "F." Following new coverage of the report card, the Conservative Party Environment Critic, Bob Mills, contacted the Sierra Club of Canada to request a reconsideration.Source
Should Canada allow the logging of old growth forests?statsdiscuss
Green’s answer: NoThe Green Party understands that forests are the foundation of complex ecological systems performing important
services that purify our air and water, prevent floods and erosion, and stabilize our climate. Two-thirds of Canada’s plant
and animal species live in forests. Large expanses of forest, especially old growth forests, must remain intact to maintain
natural habitats and biodiversity. Our forests also sustain subsistence hunters and those who seek recreation and
rejuvenation in the wilderness. Canada cuts about one million hectares of forest a year. We must improve our logging practices and become a world leader in sustainable management of this potentially fully renewable resource. We must extract more economic value from every tree cut and move quickly towards eliminating raw log exports. We can reap better economic, environmental and social benefits from our forests. A Green Party government, in partnership with the provincial and territorial governments with primary jurisdiction, will r...Source
Should Canada allow the logging of old growth forests?statsdiscuss
Christian Heritage’s answer: Yes, but only selective logging, no clearcutting, and a plan for regrowthThis same mentality, when applied to forests, resists historic and proven principles of forest management, including the cleaning up of dead trees and branches and the planting of new trees to replace those that are harvested. Human sacrifice seems to be a price preservationists are willing to pay to preserve messy forests. North America continues to see forest fires that are far larger and more dangerous than they have to be—sometimes destroying people's homes—because the fires have much more fuel to feed them in forests that have not been cleared of dead wood. This was the case in 2007, in the California neighbourhood of Lake Tahoe.Source
Should Canada allow the logging of old growth forests?statsdiscuss
Communist’s answer: No, preservation of our forests outweighs the economic benefitsA similar plight afflicts other primary producers, such as fishers and wood-lot owners, who rely on the maintenance of the renewable resources of the land and sea. Big business domination of these industries, and the introduction of high tech harvesting and processing equipment, is rapidly depleting the resource base, in some cases leading to environmental disaster. The small primary producers are also at the mercy of these big corporations, to which they must sell their harvest. Squeezed between increasing monopolization, higher operating costs and debt, lower wholesale prices, and dwindling resources, the incomes of these primary producers and their families are shrinking; thousands have been forced to abandon their livelihoods completely.
Technological restructuring and the depletion of Canada’s forestry and mineral resources are also impacting heavily on industrial workers, especially miners and woodworkers, who live and work in rural and isolated communities. Many thousands of well-paid, unionized jo...Source
