British Columbia news — Delegates at the Union of BC Municipalities annual meeting in Vancouver have thrown their weight behind the BC Raw Log Export Ban, endorsing a City of Nanaimo resolution that demands the provincial and federal governments end the export of raw logs and lumber cants from B.C.
By Maplestime News Desk | Vancouver, British Columbia | September 20, 2026
Sources: Burnaby House, Vancouver Sun via EuropeSays | Last updated: September 20, 2026
Key Takeaways
- UBCM delegates endorsed Nanaimo’s BC Raw Log Export Ban resolution at the Sept. 16–18 annual meeting in Vancouver.
- The resolution calls on Victoria and Ottawa to ban raw log and lumber-cant exports and to fund mills’ transition to value-added manufacturing.
- B.C. ships an average of about 3.2 million cubic metres of raw logs overseas every year — a trade worth roughly $400 million in both 2024 and 2025.
- Coun. Paul Manly argues the Forest Act’s surplus test is broken: shuttered mills make it easier for exporters to clear the bar.
Nanaimo’s Resolution Wins the Room
The BC Raw Log Export Ban resolution did not arrive in Vancouver cold. The Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities had already endorsed Nanaimo’s call earlier in the year, and at the UBCM annual meeting, delegates from municipalities across the province gave it the broader provincial stamp of approval.
Nanaimo councillor Paul Manly, who put the resolution forward, has long argued that raw log exports are hollowing out the very communities that harvest B.C.’s forests. The resolution asks the province and the federal government for something blunt: an outright ban on raw log and lumber-cant exports, not another tweak to the rules that govern them.
The logic is simple enough. Logs cut on Crown land and private managed forest lands in B.C., the resolution says, should be processed in B.C. — feeding domestic sawmills and pulp mills instead of filling the holds of ships bound for Asia.
The BC Raw Log Export Ban by the Numbers
The figures behind the BC Raw Log Export Ban push are stark. Over the last five years, between 2.8 and 3.5 million cubic metres of raw logs have left B.C. every year — an average of about 3.2 million cubic metres annually. Backers of the resolution link that outflow directly to mill closures and the loss of jobs and tax revenue in resource-dependent communities.
The 2025 export values tell the same story in dollars. China bought $220 million worth of B.C. logs, Japan $100 million, and the United States $40 million. Total log exports were worth roughly $400 million in both 2024 and 2025 — a trade the resolution’s supporters say amounts to exporting jobs.
- Average annual raw log exports: about 3.2 million cubic metres
- 2025 exports to China: $220 million
- 2025 exports to Japan: $100 million
- 2025 exports to the United States: $40 million
- Total log exports, 2024 and 2025: roughly $400 million each year
Why Manly Says the Surplus Test Is Broken
Under the B.C. Forest Act, logs can only be exported if they are deemed surplus to the needs of domestic mills. On paper, that should keep the best timber home. Manly’s argument — central to the BC Raw Log Export Ban case — is that the surplus test collapses in practice: as mills close, there are fewer domestic buyers left to claim the wood, which makes it easier for exporters to pass the requirement and ship the logs out anyway.
The resolution’s language is blunt about the remedy. A ban, it says, would “ensure that forests harvested in B.C. from Crown land and private managed forest lands are processed in B.C., encouraging value-added manufacturing in B.C. and supporting employment in B.C.’s forest industry.”
The resolution also calls for government support to help mills make the transition to value-added manufacturing using marketable tree species — an acknowledgment that a ban alone is not an industrial strategy.
What Happens Next in Victoria and Ottawa
A UBCM resolution is a pressure tool, not a law. The BC Raw Log Export Ban now heads to the desks of the provincial and federal governments, which Nanaimo and its municipal allies are asking to act. Whether Victoria or Ottawa moves — and how exporters and trading partners respond — will determine whether this year’s resolution becomes next year’s policy.
Related: Carney Rallies Liberal Caucus Ahead of Fall Session
Maplestime will provide updates from the BC Raw Log Export Ban debate as announcements are made.
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