Building a future for Quebec, but not Ontario.

A major policy paper in Quebec could save Northern Ontario a lot of time. The document is called "Forests: Building a Future for Quebec." It is Quebec's blueprint for digging itself out of the forestry crisis.

Quebec is facing a crisis in its forestry sector, almost as serious as the one we face in Northern Ontario. The Quebec government started its search for answers more than five years ago. A commission headed by top civil servant Guy Coulombe submitted a report in 2004, and the government began to take action in 2005. In 2007, they held a summit on the future of the forest. This year, they have issued their plan. Ontario might be wise to start its planning by building on what Quebec has done.

The stakes are high. Premier Jean Charest claims that "The challenge facing us today is to ensure that the forest, so solidly anchored in our past, is also part of our future." It is hard to imagine Quebec without a vigorous forest sector, but apparently the Premier of that province thinks it could happen. Quebec's foresty industry has not been hit as hard as Northern Ontario.

But the situation in Quebec is so bad that Claude Bechard, the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife says bluntly, "We must redefine the roles and responsibilities of all players." He is calling for more public participation and more local control. It is the kind of radical talk we need to hear in Northern Ontario.

Some of the Green Paper ideas have appeared in this column. Others have been proposed at the annual conference put on by the forestry students at Lakehead University. Some are circulating in the Community Forest Charter proposed by the Northern Ontario Sustainable Communities Partnership. Others are on the tables in the pubs and cafes across the North. The difference between Ontario and Quebec is that in Quebec the government has been listening and now it is acting.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Some of the ideas, like promoting high-tech wood products and the use of biomass fuels are screamingly obvious. Some are so obvious that they make you want to cry. How is it possible that Quebec still needs to "Establish a true industrial development strategy for timber" or to encourage "a new appreciation of timber as a material in Quebec?" Despite promises, Ontario is in the same situation.

The overall goals of the Quebec reforms are dramatic and include doubling the total value of goods and services produced for Quebec's forests, increasing the protected areas, improving the wood allocation system, creating jobs, respecting the environment.

The key to the ambitious plan is decentralization and community control. Quebec plans to "give communities and regions more input into the future of their own forests." The government will take the advice of the Coulombe Commission, "allowing the population of Quebec to take control of their public forests."

In some ways, local control in Quebec is far more advanced than in Ontario. In 1997, Glen Blouin, executive director of the Canadian Forestry Association, described Quebec's "Forest to Inhabit" program to an international symposium in China. A series of "territorial contracts" transfers some control over public forests near populated areas to the citizens, through municipal or regional structures. The program empowered citizens to make decisions on the future of the forest territory and to participate in implementing the decisions. Blouin described the emerging policy as "a social movement to reclaim forests for the benefit of the people who live in the region." Local residents are seen as having the greatest stake in making sustainable forestry work, since they have the most to lose in terms of jobs and financial security, as well as way of life.

How far Quebec will go in this direction remains to be seen, but the general trend is clear. Unfortunately, Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and our new Minister don't seem to be keeping up on the trends in our neighbouring province.

In Quebec, the slogan, maitres chez nous is turning out to be the key to prosperity for forestry communities. We in Northern Ontario should be happy that Quebec is showing the way.

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research at Laurentian University.

drobinson@laurentian.ca