Ep. 380: Is British Columbia a No-Go Investment Zone?

Guest: Conrad Browne, Teal-Jones Group

A recent Vaughn Palmer piece states, “[British Columbia] forest companies [are] expanding at a rapid pace, but not at home.”

The subtitle says, “$10 billion gone elsewhere.” Elsewhere is a warning sign the business climate in this province is dark, stormy and uncertain.

Former Premier Glen Clark says, “Don't people understand that if you make the business environment so challenging and unwelcoming, those with money will just invest somewhere else?" He’s right – the flow of capital out of BC is accelerating, including investments made by Canfor, which recently invested $420 million to acquire Alberta-based Millar Western Forest Products.

Forestry is in the permit economy, which has been affected profoundly by government regulations and protest campaigns in BC. Any company that requires government approval to do business here must think long and hard about investing in BC. And even when they go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that every condition is met along with solid First Nations relationships and agreements, those companies remain prime targets for protests.

Teal-Jones is a BC forestry success story. The largest family-owned private forestry company on the coast, the company is a perfect example of sustainability. Teal-Jones mills every tree it harvests into more than 18,000 value-added products, created in facilities in BC. The company has long-standing agreements with more than 100 First Nations. In the days following the devastation in Lytton and the Nlaka'pamux First Nation, Teal Jones donated half a million board-feet of lumber to help rebuild the devastated communities. All this, and this remarkable company has now decided to curtail investing in BC and is increasingly relying on revenues from outside of the province to support its bottom line here.

We invited Conrad Browne, the Director of Indigenous Partnership and Strategic Relations at Teal-Jones, to join us for a Conversation That Matters about why BC is becoming a less attractive investment location.