Doug checks his phone before bed—not to scroll social media—but to see if another layoff notice has gone out. He’s been a mill worker for over 28 years. His wife recently picked up additional shifts at the Save-On-Foods 40 minutes away. Their youngest son is anxious about the affordability of post-secondary options, and next week, they have a truck payment due.
Another mill closure is not a statistic. It's a family in B.C. wondering what tomorrow looks like.
Doug’s story echoes from the island to the interior— among working families who built the industrial spine of this province. They all share the same quiet fear: that the next round of tariffs, next dip in the markets or a long fire season could erase decades of employment.
These workers aren’t looking for sympathy; they’re asking for stability—for a plan from governments that keep them in mind when big decisions get made. The recent announcement that West Fraser will permanently close its mill in 100 Mile House is a devastating reminder of what happens when that stability fails.
B.C. has all the resources, the skill, and the will to build an economy that works for working people. What’s missing is a coordinated strategy that treats our industrial sectors as one ecosystem and a politics that views workers as partners, not props.
For too long, economic debates have forced a narrative that pits sector against sector, between fiscal pressures and fairness. False choices.
In mining, productive industrial planning by governments means building worker informed training systems that increase retention, strengthen safety and grow local expertise for the next generation. For forestry, it means securing a sustainable fibre supply so mills can operate long enough to invest and hire. And it means ensuring every public dollar spent on infrastructure, clean energy, shipbuilding and manufacturing directly supports stable, family supporting unionized employment in communities across B.C.
Good industrial policy is about the millwright who wants to see her apprentice stay in town; the miners that need equitable safety standards; the single parent who can finally plan their work week knowing childcare is secure. A strong economy delivers: predictability, dignity, and the ability for working people to build their lives where they are.
Governments are rediscovering this idea.
The recent federal budget provides B.C. a once-in-a-generation chance to rebuild our industrial base—if we align those federal dollars with an intentional provincial plan rooted in the realities of our communities.
Workers from Surrey to Vernon, from Chemainus to Cranbrook want to know that when they put in the work, the province will back them with sector-specific planning that includes training, safety, and stability— nitiatives grounded in skill and solidarity.
Early signs are hopeful.
David Eby is serious about economic growth. The government is explicitly tying family-supporting job creation to major project advancement. Ministers are bringing workers, industry, and First Nations to the same table. The BC NDP is signalling investments in workforce development and retention. Eby talks about clean economic growth and resource stability in the same breath–something we have not heard in a while.
This shift deserves credit. It’s good for workers; it’s good for business.
None of this will happen overnight. It takes time, resolve and a strong mandate.
As delegates gather for the upcoming BC NDP convention, workers have reasons to stand together, look forward, and use our power to keep all governments accountable. The conversations in our movement are about how to keep building, not whether to. In the legislative halls in Victoria, we hear a growing understanding of this. An understanding that domestic procurement, health and safety, expert training by workers, and stronger collective bargaining are not obstacles to prosperity—they are what make prosperity a lived reality for everyday families.
We can choose a politics that prioritizes workers and builds resiliency for our sectors, or we can hand the microphone back to those who profit from chaos and tell people to be angry instead of organized. One path builds, the other blames; one creates stability, the other feeds uncertainty.
In a time when frustration is easy to exploit, choosing steadiness over outrage is the real test of our movement. And as working people, we know which side we’re on—the side that builds.
Scott Lunny is the Director of USW District 3, representing over 30,000 members in British Columbia’s forestry, mining, telecommunications, industrial, warehouse, service sectors and more. He is a longtime labour, social justice and political activist who has led major organizing, bargaining and political action initiatives across Western Canada.