Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Edmundston, New Brunswick today to announce federal support to establish the Northern Hardwood Research Institute at the Edmundston campus of the Université de Moncton (UMCE).

The Institute will support the diversification of the industry and the economy by carrying out research that will lead to a more profitable and sustainable hardwood sector with the capacity to export highly competitive products to the global marketplace, thus generating jobs and contributing to the province’s long-term economic growth.

Specific benefits will include:

• Increasing the quality and quantity of available hardwood;
• Improving sound and sustainable primary resource management practices;
• Enabling forestry companies to manufacture more competitive products to meet domestic and international competition;
• Helping address reduced hardwood cutting rights; and
• Promoting cooperation among the faculty of forestry at UMCE, the forestry industry and the government.

Research undertaken at the Institute will form the basis for new programs and courses that will be taught at the UMCE, which will complement those already being offered by the University. These include both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in forestry, and a research program focused on the key areas of sustainable forest management including silviculture, forestry operations and economics, geomatics and ecology.

Funding Breakdown

Total project costs are $4.2 million.

• Government of Canada – $1,586,576, over five years through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Innovative Communities Fund (ICF)
• Government of New Brunswick – $1,586,576
• Université de Moncton – $528,858
• Private sector companies (JD Irving, AV Nackawic, Groupe Savoie and Acadian Timber) – will invest a total of $528,858

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s  ICF focuses on projects that lead to long-term employment and economic capacity building in rural communities in Atlantic Canada. The program’s objectives are to improve community infrastructure, provide better access to skills training, and help communities overcome economic development challenges while taking advantage of their strengths.

Source: Government of Canada