Tax Incentives for Investment in Intensive Forestry

The National Executive Committee of the Canadian Institute of Forestry was asked by the federal Minister of Fisheries and the Environment to propose and detail specific federal tax incentives for intensified forestry. Estimates and analyses of Canada's present timber supply show that most timber surplus is remote and costly, and emphasize the need for regular and systematic renewal on productive forests in order to maintain the forest industry. Regeneration has not kept pace with depletion, and a backlog of 12% of the productive forest land in Canada now requires treatment. Moreover, serious annual shortfalls in current provincial reforestation programs, are steadily adding to this area. The responsibility for restocking these depleted forest lands rests with those who benefit from productive forests. The federal government is asked to cooperate by changing the Income Tax Act and Regulations to encourage forest operators to invest in current reforestation activities, and by negotiating long-term cost-sharing agreements with provincial governments to attack the backlog.