Sussex-based woodlot marketing board files appeal in J.D. Irving case
The Southern New Brunswick Forest Products Marketing Board is turning to the courts as it continues trying to regain control over timber sales in its region.
The Sussex-based board has filed an appeal of a recent decision by the provincial Forest Products Commission in a case that pitted the board against J.D. Irving Ltd. and several other forestry companies and contractors.
- JDI victorious over wood marketing board, but new rules coming
- Woodlot groups welcome proposed licensing rules for timber sales
On Dec. 11, the commission struck down an order issued by the SNB board declaring that all timber from private woodlots had to be sold to the board and, in turn, purchased from the board by the mills.
The order was an attempt by SNB to win back powers given to woodlot groups by the legislature that have eroded in recent years.
JDI bypassed board
The outcome of the appeal could determine whether New Brunswick's seven woodlot marketing boards still retain powers to control timber sales in their respective territories.
This particular dispute dates back eight years to when JDI began to bypass the SNB marketing board to
buy timber directly from private woodlot owners or contractors.
Two years later, in 2012, the company stopped buying wood entirely from the marketing board, meaning individual woodlot owners were on their own when negotiating prices with the company.
It is a practice JDI has since expanded across the province.
Commission agreed with Irving
In its December decision, the commission agreed with Irving and other companies that the marketing board
overstepped its authority when it issued the order.
The board is asking the New Brunswick Court of Appeal to declare its order "valid and enforceable."
The board claims the Forest Products Commission "erred in law, or in the alternative, made errors of mixed fact and law," in its decision to strike down the SNB order.
It claims the commission also erred when it declared the "order" was an improper use of the board's powers to try to force JDI to negotiate, and also that the board had infringed the company's rights to "fairness."
The SNB appeal to the courts effectively suspends plans by the Forest Products Commission to introduce a "substitute" order, as planned, in April, said Tim Fox, executive director of the Forest Products Commission.
Licensing plan on hold
The commission's order would have required JDI and all other wood buyers and sellers dealing with private woodlots in SNB territory to be licensed by the Sussex-based board.
Information on where harvesting is taking place, and the volumes and types of trees being cut would have to be reported to the board.
That plan is now on hold, at least in the case of SNB.
"Anything related to the [commission] decision is in a stay position until there's a ruling by the Court of Appeal," said Fox.
But the commission is inviting voluntary comments on the licensing proposal from the six other woodlot marketing boards and may allow them to introduce their own licensing orders in the interim, said Fox.
