These are the speaking notes from last night's meeting for Rick Jeffery, President and CEO, Coast Forest Products Association
“Philanthropy
isn’t just for today. It is for
today, tomorrow and for years to come.”
Good evening it is my pleasure to
be here tonight.
My name is Rick Jeffery, and I am
President of Coast Forest Products Association.
I am here representing 20
forestry companies which produce logs, lumber and pulp and paper on our
coast. 38,000 people living in
Vancouver and coastal communities throughout BC rely on the health of our
industry for their jobs and livelihoods.
I would like to thank the 3
previous speakers: Michael Kluckner, Roy Forster and Henry Hawthorne, an
interesting and knowledgeable group.
Also thank you to Janet Leduc and her team for putting together this
event tonight.
When I think of philanthropy, I
realize that it is something that isn’t just for today. It is for today, tomorrow and for years
to come.
The coast forest sector has a
long history of philanthropy that has helped build coastal communities
throughout BC including Vancouver.
As you may be aware there are a number of iconic and significant public
buildings and art works around Vancouver which are gifts from our industry. I will list a few tonight:
· •The
Bloedel Conservatory
· • Knife
Edge two Piece that Henry Moore gifted with Bloedel Conservatory and situated
on its plaza
· • VanDusen
Botanical Garden, Original Buildings
· •HR
MacMillan Space Centre/Planetarium…and finally, the reason why we are here
tonight,
· •MacMillian
Bloedel Place “A Walk in the Forest” (at VanDusen Botanical Gardens).
There are others to be sure but estimates
are that just this list (above) would likely total $200 million dollars in
replacement costs today.
As you can see, these are
important to Vancouver and this legacy of giving is one that our industry is
particularly proud of….. even though coast forestry has changed significantly with
the times. We are now much
different than what we once were when these buildings were constructed.
Today coast forestry is a modern
sector. We are focussed on
sustainability and follow some of the strictest forest regulations in the
world. Over 17 million new trees
are planted by our member companies on the BC coast alone. 200 million per year are planted in
BC. We are growing our markets
both here at home as well as globally.
We are high tech., innovative and finding new uses for wood…Even in
today’s Vancouver Sun, there was a
story about how Vancouver architect, Michael Green will be speaking at the upcoming
TED conference regarding constructing tall towers from wood - this concept came
from right here in our city.
As you can see we are both proud
of our shared heritage with the City of Vancouver yet speak to you today as a
new and modern industry.
When Coast Forest was advised of
this situation with the Forestry Education Centre recently we were shocked - especially
after having just witnessed a similar threat to the Bloedel Conservatory a few
years ago. We don’t like to see our gifts neglected and under the threat of
being destroyed. Clearly this sets
a poor precedent for any potential future donors.
I am here tonight to advise you
we will be writing a letter to the Park Board and City of Vancouver asking them
to reconsider the demolition of MacMillan Bloedel Place.
Please give our industry and the
public time to look for solutions to prevent what would be a terrible loss to people
in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia.
I urge all of you here tonight to
take the same action.
Thank you.
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