You could say that lumber is one of the backbones of the Canadian economy.
Lumber isn’t just tied to the housing market. The sector touches almost every area of the country. The Maritimes have a vibrant lumber industry, thanks to lush forests in rural New Brunswick.
Ontario and Quebec have seemingly limitless forests north of significant cities. Western Canada also has enormous pockets of lumber, which is especially valuable to British Columbia and Alberta.
According to Natural Resources Canada, more than 345,000 people were directly or indirectly employed by the Canadian lumber industry in 2021. Collectively, these folks were paid approximately $11 billion in wages.
Lumber is a big part of the Canadian economy. But with volatile prices, plenty of competition, perhaps weaker housing starts (caused by elevated mortgage rates) and other issues like the United States and Canada lumber trade wars impacting the industry, is it a safe place…
