As of May this year, an estimated 4,385 workers were employed on the $8.8-billion Site C dam construction project near Fort St. John.
Kitimat and Terrace are humming with activity, thanks to the $40-billion LNG sa国际传媒-Coastal GasLink pipeline project.
Port expansion in Prince Rupert has created an additional 1,000 jobs since 2016.
Employment is strong in the Dawson Creek-Tumbler Ridge-Chetwynd triangle, thanks in part to Conuma Coal Resources reopening a third mine, Willow Creek.
And in the Golden Triangle of northwest sa国际传媒, mining exploration spending was up by about $165 million.
Economic growth in sa国际传媒鈥檚 north is reflected in housing starts and construction permits. Residential building permits in northern sa国际传媒 were up 30 per cent in 2018 compared with the total in 2017, industrial permits were up 427 per cent and institutional and government building permits were up 42 per cent, according to the annual State of the North report.
Overall, indicators show northern sa国际传媒鈥檚 economy growing in 2018.
But in small, forestry-dependent communities such as Mackenzie and Fort St. James, it鈥檚 a very different story. Both have been hit hard with sawmill closures and curtailments.
鈥淵ou go to Kitimat and Terrace right now, things are hopping,鈥� said Joel McKay, CEO of the Northern Development Initiative Trust, which publishes the State of the North report.
鈥淭he Port of Prince Rupert ... hundreds of new jobs created in a couple of years with their expansion. So no question about it, some of those major industrial projects are really helping to keep some communities afloat.
鈥淚f you pop up north to Mackenzie, Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake and then down Highway 97 into the Cariboo, that鈥檚 where you start to see the impacts of the downturn in forestry. And that is a different story.
鈥淭hose communities are concerned about the residents they鈥檙e going to lose, their future tax base in order to deliver services.鈥�
Whether it is fisheries, forestry, mining or oil and gas, resource industries are cyclical, so many northern communities will always be vulnerable to boom-and-bust cycles.
But the recent downturn in forestry has been particularly severe.
In Mackenzie, more than 600 sawmill workers, loggers and truck drivers are suddenly out of work, thanks to the permanent closing of a Canfor Corp. sawmill and extended curtailment at a Conifex Timber mill. In Fort St. James, 170 sawmill workers were laid off when Conifex closed its sawmill there. Conifex hopes to sell the mill to Hampton Lumber.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 timber supply is in a long-term decline, thanks to the mountain pine beetle infestation and forest fires, which have taken more than 50 per cent of the merchantable timber out of the annual allowable cut.
High lumber prices in the U.S. forestalled the inevitable mill closures. But when prices started to fall, the sawmill closures and curtailments came quickly and have left communities such as Mackenzie and Fort St. James reeling.
鈥淚t comes as zero surprise to anybody who鈥檚 been watching forestry for a while that there was going to be a downturn and it was going to be big,鈥� McKay said. 鈥淲hat happened this year was it all kind of came at once.鈥�
In mid-August, close to 1,000 people staged a rally in Mackenzie to call public attention to the sweeping job losses. They are pressuring the province to do something, which in turn is pressuring the federal government to do something.
Doug Donaldson, minister of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development, has written to the federal government asking for federal aid for workers.
In Mackenzie, about one-third of the laid-off workers are 55 or older, so the province is asking the federal government to provide early-retirement incentives.
鈥淪ome of those workers are seeking early retirement, but they have some years to go before their pensions kick in, Donaldson said. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 the bridging funding we鈥檙e seeking from the federal government.鈥�
The government is also asking Ottawa to lower eligibility requirements for employment insurance.
With thousands of workers needed for multibillion-dollar projects such as the Coastal GasLink pipeline, there may be opportunities for laid-off sawmill workers to get jobs elsewhere in northern sa国际传媒
The Coastal GasLink pipeline alone, which will run from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, is expected to employ 2,000 to 2,500 workers over a four-year period.
鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely true that between Site C, Trans Mountain, Coastal GasLink, LNG sa国际传媒 and some of the other projects that might come along, those create employment opportunities for the workers who may be impacted by the closures or curtailments,鈥� McKay said.
鈥淏ut the challenge is, not in 100 per cent of cases are skill sets going to be transferable.鈥�
