Ministry of Forests | Romance raises controversy

The romantic relationship between a forest engineer from the Department of Forests in Sherbrooke and the wood supply manager for the Domtar paper mill creates unease in the Estrie forest community.

This potential conflict of interest worries other users of the public forest, who fear favoritism towards Domtar, the second largest beneficiary of “supply guarantees” in public forests in Estrie, and the first for hardwood , with an annual allowable volume of 11,850 cubic meters (m^⁠3) of wood for the period 2023-2028.

The forest engineer in question was hired less than a year ago at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF), while her spouse, also a forest engineer, was already coordinator of “fiber supply” from the paper mill.

Both come from the same cohort at Université Laval, where they graduated in 2007. The Press chose not to name them, since no professional misconduct is currently alleged against them.

Their relationship was already known in the Estrie forest community; it was mentioned in 2022 at the region’s “Integrated Resource and Territory Management Table”, of which Madame was the coordinator before being hired by the MRNF, and where Mr. supply – the director of forest management for the MRNF in Estrie also sits there.

“It seems bad, I find it hard to understand that we are in a situation like this”, is surprised André Roy, president of the board of directors of the Union of forest producers of southern Quebec (SPFSQ).

Maple syrup producers, who have long called for a better sharing of the public forest, fear that the situation will lead to “a certain penchant for forest production more than maple syrup,” told The Press the regional president of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers in Estrie, Jonathan Blais.

“It’s nothing against the skills of the lady”, but the situation is “delicate and embarrassing” for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, says Mr. Blais.

Especially since the state is evading the obligation it imposes on other forest owners to preserve sugar bushes, says André Roy.

“We, on private land, are bound by a fairly tight system, we must preserve the maple potential,” he said. It’s two weights, two measures. »

A “great sensitivity”

The forest engineer concerned “has a very great sensitivity for the other users” of the public forest and would not unduly favor her spouse, nuance the volunteer president of the organization Sentiers frontaliers, Monique Sholz.

She considers that the Ministry of Forests does not administer the public forest well and favors the timber industry to the detriment of other users, but considers that the problem is generalized and predates the current situation.

Planning and permissions

The role of forest engineers working in the regional offices of the MRNF is notably to “determine where and how the volume that has been allocated [aux entreprises forestières] could be harvested,” explains François Laliberté, president of the Order of Forest Engineers of Quebec and lecturer at Laval University.

They are therefore the ones who determine the sectors targeted, the species targeted and the types of cutting to be carried out, just as they are responsible for approving the “annual programming of harvesting activities” of industrialists and issuing cutting permits.

The forest engineer from Estrie is therefore in a position to transmit privileged information to her spouse, according to Henri Jacob, president of Action boréale.

“Companies make proposals to the government and will try to have the best places, as close as possible to the factory, and [le Ministère] makes the decision,” he says.

“It is directly a conflict of interest”, estimates the environmental activist, being surprised “that the Ministry allows something as apparent as that”.

François Laliberté tempers the concerns by explaining that it is “relatively difficult” for a civil servant to favor or disadvantage a particular company, due to the complexity and cumbersomeness of the Quebec forest harvest planning system – he besides doing his doctoral thesis on this system.

François Laliberté nevertheless invites anyone who suspects a conflict of interest to report it to the professional order so that it can be investigated.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry refused to grant an interview to The Press ; a spokesperson refusing to identify himself, however, said in an email that best practices to avoid conflicts of interest are applied, without giving details.

The forestry engineer concerned declared that she was not authorized to speak publicly and was fired The Press to the “mandatory process” of the Ministry’s press relations service.

Domtar said its fiber sourcing coordinator “does not deal or have a professional relationship” with his spouse, with paper company spokeswoman Providence Cloutier explaining that it is the company harvesting for Domtar the wood assigned to him which exchanges with the Ministry.