I joined Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and West Fraser CEO Hank Ketcham today on a tour of the China-Canada Green Building Design Center in Langfang – one of China’s largest wood-frame buildings.

It was such an honour to be part of this event. The centre is a great way to showcase our world-class, and environmentally friendly, wood-frame technologies and materials.  

The excellent in-market support we’ve received from the British Columbia and Canadian Government are responsible for this and many other important demonstration projects in China.  The Centre was completed in October 2011, and features a wide assortment of Canadian wood products – Douglas-fir glulam, Douglas-fir, western redcedar, hem-fir (hemlock-fir species), SPF (spruce-pine-fir species group), OSB (oriented strand board), and I-Joists (an engineered wood joist).

During our visit to Langfang, I had a chance to talk to the Prime Minister about the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and the need for future transportation investments. It’s obvious he was impressed with the progress we have made in China, and supportive of the collaborative approach we are taking to market development.   And there’s good reason for his enthusiasm  – during the first 11 months of 2011, wood products were Canada’s third-largest export to China, totalling $1.36 billion. It’s expected to exceed $1.5 billion once we have the final tally for 2011.

The Prime Minister appreciates the involvement of the industry delegation in this trade mission, and he just issued a statement saying his government is committed to helping us diversify and succeed in priority markets around the world.  The support of the government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia has been critical to the significant inroads we’ve made in this large and rapidly growing economy, and continued partnership on initiatives of this kind are key to Canada’s leadership in international trade.

In addition to our visit to the Green Building Design Centre, we also participated in an industry roundtable session today, and the Prime Minister made an excellent and well-informed speech to the China-Canada Business Forum.

Don Kayne