The Ontario Forest Tenure Modernization Act passed final reading in the Ontario legislature, May 17.
Under the new system, the province will introduce two new forest management models for harvesting Crown wood from Ontario forests.
One is the Local Forest Management Corporations (LFMC's), designed to manage Crown forests and oversee the competitive sale of timber in a given area.
The other model, Enhanced Shareholder Sustainable Forest Licences, where a group of mills or harvesters collectively form a new company to manage Crown forests under the provincially-issued Sustainable Forest Licence.
The government says the two new models will make Ontario's timber supply and prices more responsive to market demand and make it easier for local entrepreneurs and Aboriginal partner to participate in forest economy.
The government has yet to announce the locations of the pilot sites of these models for field-tested over a five- to seven-year period.
“We've worked hard on this legislation to address concerns about change, as well as the desire for change,” said Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle in a statement. “Now it's time for action to balance private interests with the overriding public interest in putting Ontario's wood and people back to work.”
The legislature has attracted plenty of opposition from the forest industry, Northern community leaders, municipal and Aboriginal groups over the wording of the legislation and the McGuinty government's decision to hold final consultation meetings in Toronto.
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