Officials stress importance of northern Ontario's wood supply

Members of the forestry sector say northern Ontario's forests could play a major role in addressing the housing affordability crisis in Canada.

To encourage contractors, engineers and architects to build with wood, the Liberal government is giving $855,000 to extend the Canadian Wood Council's (CWC) 'Wood WORKS!' program for two more years.

"Wood is part of the solution. If people are using wood in construction, then there's a demand for the product and so that drives the jobs," said CWC president and CEO Rick Jeffery.

"The Wood WORKS! program works closely with the architects, engineering, construction and development community, as well as municipal officials, and helps them build with wood effectively."

Wood WORKS! also develops technical content and continuing education opportunities for architecture, engineering, construction and development professionals to expand their capacity for wood design and construction.

Some of the program’s key strategic activities target the expanded use of wood in low-rise commercial construction, mid-rise buildings, multi-unit residential developments and bridges.

"It has been doing such a great job at encouraging wood to be used," said Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal MP Anthony Rota.

"It's something that the federal government really believes in."

To encourage contractors, engineers and architects to build with wood, the Liberal government is giving $855,000 to extend the Canadian Wood Council's (CWC) 'Wood WORKS!' program for two more years. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

Using wood helps de-carbonize the environment, since it is a low-carbon product. Jeffery said it has a role to play in the ongoing housing affordability crisis.

"We're looking now at things like off-site construction, modular homes to address ways to build homes cheaper," he said.

"We can start building fourplexes and sixplexes."

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said 3.5 million additional homes need to be built by 2030 to create enough homes to address the issue.

"In British Columbia for instance, the wood industry has about a 90 per cent share of one- to six-story condo apartments," said Jeffery.

"In Ontario, its only 20 per cent."

Ontario currently has a 10-year forest sector strategy. The president and CEO of Ontario Forest Industries Association said there's been renewed interest in the province's wood products by companies from Western Canada and the United States.

• Download the CTV News app now and get local alerts on your device
• Get local breaking news and updates sent to your email inbox

"Utilizing the lower-quality material, the forest biomass and finding value added opportunities in new markets and new products is how the sectors is going to grow," said Ian Dunn, the association's president and CEO.

Using wood in more residential builds is expected to support 115 projects, create 750 jobs and generate $75 million in new wood sales.