Tall wood buildings and the expanded use of mass timber show significant potential in growing the market for Canada?s forest products industry, according to a new report from Branching Out: How Canada?s Forestry Products Sector is Reshaping its Future, by Eric Miller.
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The report examines how the sector is responding to its challenges, and recommends key policies that will help expand its contribution to the Canadian economy. The recommendations include:

Scale up the government contributions to FPInnovations, a non-profit innovation hub for the forestry industry, and other vehicles with a successful track record of commercialization.
Consolidate the early product and process innovations supported by the federal government in partnership with the industry to make Canada a global leader in the emerging ?tall wood building space.? Endeavour to ensure ?regulatory neutrality? for the use of emerging wood and wood-based products.
Create a window supported by carbon tax revenues to drive local solutions to forest management, adaption and utilization.
Develop a sectoral arrangement on trade in forest products with China, focused on the construction sector.

According to the C.D. Howe Institute report, the external forces buffeting Canada?s forest division have challenged the sector to become an innovation leader. These forces include: price swings; US trade protectionism; and shifting market demand for its core pr...