February 14, 2005
Dream Home China
Private Members' Statements

G. Trumper: I rise today to talk about the China Dream Home project. With all that we hear about the Canadian softwood lumber dispute with the United States, how long it continues and the negative impacts on British Columbia families, communities and British Columbia as a province, it's my pleasure to talk about a new project that will increase demand for British Columbia lumber.

Last month I joined the Minister of Forests, the Minister of State for Immigration and Multiculturalism Services and the member for Burnaby North for a trade mission to China. We travelled to Shanghai, where the China Dream Home project was constructed to demonstrate what B.C. lumber and wood products can do for Chinese housing.

We also participated in the opening of the China Dream Home project. What was most noticeable was that as we walked into the building, we could smell the wood. We could smell the cedar. In a city of cement, steel and concrete and great pollution, it was wonderful. The China Dream Home is a showcase housing project manufactured out of B.C. wood. It is managed by, interestingly enough, Mr. Poole, who resides in Qualicum, which is my constituency.

British Columbia's forestry sector was a partner in developing the project. Approximately ten million homes are constructed in China each year — five times more homes than are built each year in the United States of America. Very few of these homes are built of wood, which means that there is a huge opportunity for all British Columbians if we can convince Chinese people to choose homes built of wood. British Columbia would benefit the most from a shift to wood-based construction in Chinese homes, because we are the world's largest softwood lumber exporter.

Our Dream Home project is more than just a showcase to show off what our wood can do. The project includes many factors that will be necessary to help the people of China to start building more wood-based housing. One important component of the project is that we are helping China to make it easier for builders to construct wooden houses by helping China update their building codes and regulations. We are also helping Chinese builders, engineers, architects and tradespeople through training programs that will develop their wood-building skills. As more Chinese building trades workers are able to build better frame houses, more frame houses will be built in China, creating more demand for our lumber.

We're also creating partnerships with Chinese developers to encourage the production of more wood-frame houses in China. The firm that built the presentation centre, Jin Qiao, is now working on a new housing development, and they are constructing 205 units of wood-frame housing and are planning to build 100 units of wooden townhouses. These projects will be a great start, and I'm sure that we will look forward to many more housing developments.

We're also looking at developing a demonstration building in Shanghai to promote concrete-wood hybrid low-rise developments. As we diversify our lumber export markets, British Columbia will become less reliant on the U.S. export market. In other words, we will be less worried about softwood lumber duties, which have such a negative impact on my riding of Alberni-Qualicum and the entire province of British Columbia.

The United States will be a smaller portion of our lumber market. More markets and larger markets would help our number one industry grow and employ more people throughout British Columbia. As more lumber is produced and consumed, more loggers and people in my constituency of Alberni-Qualicum and throughout B.C. will be able to secure good-paying jobs in our forest industries.

What should be noticed is that in some of the lumberyards in Shanghai, we had wood from APD mill in Port Alberni and the Somass mill. I hope we will see more of that lumber in China. This would help potential foresters and people in the forest industry find quality jobs that will support themselves and their families and contribute to their communities.

At this point I would like to turn over the floor to the member for Burnaby North for his thoughts and comments on this unique project when he accompanied us to China.

R. Lee: It is my pleasure to respond to the member for Alberni-Qualicum on the Dream Home China project in Shanghai.

I am glad to witness the completion of phase 1 of this project, as we participated in the opening of the presentation centre. It's now the new home for the Canada wood products service centre and offices for the Council of Forest Industries — COFI — and the B.C. Wood Specialities Group Association, the Coast Forest Products Association, as well as other B.C. forest companies doing business in China.

It is indeed a true collaboration between the government agencies and the industries, since products from more than 13 forest companies across this province are used to finish the presentation centre. B.C. experts in building code regulations, design, construction and training are all partners in this project as well.

Now we know that this magnificent centre is managed by one of the constituents of the member for Alberni-Qualicum as well. It shows that this project is very broad-based, and it demonstrates all aspects of B.C. wood-frame construction products, technology and knowledge.

I have met many people involved in this project or in wood-frame construction in general over the last two years — for example, the management of the project partner Jin Qiao, building code developers from Forintek in UBC, wood-frame technologist trainers from BCIT, and of course the staff of Forestry Innovation Investment. Their enthusiasm in further opening up the Chinese market for B.C. lumber products is truly driving this unique project.

Local companies with headquarters in Burnaby are involved in this project as well. Last September I was at the Taiga Forest Products Aldergrove yard to see the last shipment off to complete this presentation centre.

During this trip to Shanghai many of the delegates from the B.C. forestry industries had opportunities to meet Chinese designers, architects, developers, builders, importers and researchers. This kind of interaction and relationship-building is very important and very helpful to increase the export of B.C. lumber and other forestry products.

With the member for Alberni-Qualicum and other members of the delegation, we also visited other wood housing projects in the Shanghai area. The Thames Town project in a Shanghai suburb where a Canadian builder has completed about 64 wood-frame houses in Victorian and Georgian styles of architecture demonstrated that there is a market for quality designed and constructed houses in China.

The Tecsun Homes tour in Suzhou enhanced the delegates' knowledge in the history and the efficiency of wood-frame construction in China. Some of our delegates were vivid critics of what they observed in these tours. They can offer many constructive suggestions for improvement regarding construction techniques, building materials and space utilization. Some of these opinions have been or will be communicated to the management of various projects.

To develop the B.C. advantage in the Chinese housing market, it's essential that we are taking the lead in helping the Chinese central and local governments to develop the wood-frame construction building codes.

During this trip, the Minister of Forests took a step to further our advantages by signing an MOU with the Shanghai municipal people's government's construction and management commission science and technology committee. The development of these local code provisions in order to adapt to local conditions and circumstances is an important advantage to be carried forward to open up the Shanghai wood-frame construction market.

I would like to thank the member for Alberni-Qualicum for highlighting the Dream Home Canada project, because it's the bridgehead for our forestry companies in the Chinese market.

G. Trumper: I would like to thank the member for Burnaby North for his comments. At this point I would like to mention how important it is that we keep looking for such opportunities in China and around the world. It is important to keep working on this opportunity for British Columbia lumber. We need to keep promoting B.C. forest products at the same time as we identify any barriers that countries have in using our products.

Without finding the barriers, we cannot work as a province to tear them down — whether skills training, new building codes or different construction techniques are what is needed for B.C. forest products to take off. Only through such programs can we hope to expand British Columbia lumber products to countries which traditionally have not used lumber in their housing construction.

I know, just as my constituents do, that B.C. forest products are an excellent product, useful in a wide variety of construction projects. With such an excellent project, the proper marketing is necessary so that people all over the world will know about our forest products and how they can take advantage of the opportunities they provide. British Columbia is taking the opportunity to demonstrate the quality of B.C. wood products, and I am certain that this will help grow our industry and our province, which will be good for every British Columbian.