ENVIRONMENT: Ghost moose really ticked A4 Friday, April 5, 2013 Prince George boxers do well at Quesnel B3
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www.pgfreepress.ca Emma Church, a staff member at The Exploration Place, puts a mealworm in front of Sandy, a bearded dragon, to see if she’s willing to have a meal. The dragon, a denizen of the Biome, is fed every weekday afternoon, while some of the other ‘critters’ can be looked at close up between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The real dragon’s den
A lla n W ISHA RT/ Fre e Pre s s
Oliver reiterates industry support DELYNDA PILON
newsroom@pgfreepress.com
With the mountain pine beetle epidemic, the global recession and the collapse of the U.S. housing market, the forest industry has experienced several difficult years, however the sector is in the midst of a rebirth. To aid in that transformation, the federal government committed to $30.4 million in the federal budget. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says the money will be used to support the transformation of the forest industry through innovation and market expansion. Oliver, speaking at the Council of Forest Industries annual general meeting in Prince George Thursday, said now the U.S. market is rebounding and Canada has been successful in diversifying its market, particularly with lumber in China. In 2013-2014 $7.6 million of the investment will go
towards supporting market-development activities that help Canadian wood producers diversify and expand export opportunities in traditional and emerging overseas markets, he said. He said $3.3 million will go towards supporting building code changes and marketing local wood products among designers, architect and builders to those in various levels of government of the opportunities to use wood in non-residential applications. “Industry analysts foresee the long-term outlook is the strongest in years,” Oliver said. He added 180,000 people, more than double the population of Prince George, are expected to move into cities in China over the next year, and the trend Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver in ongoing. can be used to construct these types of buildings by putHe added they are unlikely to move into singlefamily homes, meaning mid- to high-rises will be impor- ting to use new technology like cross-laminated timber tant to the future. He said Canada must show that wood and through changing the building codes.
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