National Sponsors

New Report: Expanding Market Demand for Canadian Wood Products 

 

The Richmond Olympic Oval (3 MB )  The Oval is the largest structure to be built for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The building features a 6 acre (2.5 hectare) free spanning roof that is a precedent setting example of British Columbia's and Canada's advanced wood engineering and prefabrication capabilities.

  Wood WORKS! is a national campaign to increase the use of wood in commercial, industrial and institutional construction. In North America, this market for wood is valued at US$20 billion.

The Canadian Wood Council leads this program with funding support from the wood industry, the federal government and provincial governments across Canada.

What is the Vision?

The vision of Wood WORKS! is to have a wood culture in Canada, where wood is our first choice and best value building material for all types of construction.

What does Wood WORKS! do?

• We build pride in our wood culture through awareness and education.
• We build proficiency in using wood through training, networking and technical support.
• We celebrate ‘wood champions’ who inspire excellence in building with wood.

What is a Wood Culture?

• Is wood our first choices and best value building material?
• Is wood valued as the most sustainable building material?
• Do we produce competitive products and building systems?
• Do we excel at building with wood?

Yes to all these questions defines our wood culture.
We know we have a wood culture when…

• Wood is our first choice and best value building material.
• Wood is valued as the most sustainable building material.
• We produce competitive products and building systems.
• We excel at building with wood.
• The world views us as leaders in building with wood.

Build our economy by building with wood

Canada is blessed with its abundant forest resources, which covers fully half of our land mass and represents 10-percent of the world’s forests. As world leaders in forestry technology, and as responsible stewards of forest ecosystems, Canada’s economic fabric is strengthened – and greened – through our forest economy.

In 1999 the forest sector employed 840,000 Canadians which translates into 1 job in 17 in Canada, and created almost $74 billion of value in goods and services. Forest products have long been Canada's single most important export. In 2001, exports to more than 120 countries around the world totaled some $44.1 billion – the single largest contributor to our balance of trade that year.

Economic prosperity is not limited to traditional lumber products, but includes research and development of new technologies, advanced engineered structural products and manufactured building systems. As a responsible world population grapples with climate change – and embraces the twin concepts of sustainability and building green – we are poised for continued prosperity as the global leader in forestry and wood. More than finished wood products, Canada’s forests offer an array of environmental, economical, social and cultural benefits.

The world is watching

Canada's forests play a major role in the delicate balance of life, supporting two thirds of Canada’s 140,000 species of plants, animals and microorganisms.

Proudly, Canada leads the world with sustainable forestry management practices. Only 119 million ha or 28% of forests are currently managed for timber production while an estimated 32 million ha are protected from harvesting Internationally, Canada supports developing countries to better manage their forests through technology transfer and professional advice.

The world is watching – and it likes what it sees. Canada is building a wood culture, where the world sees us as leaders in building with wood, where we produce competitive products and building systems and where we embrace wood as our first choice and best value building material. Best of all, we do all of that as part of our stewardship of vibrant, healthy sustainable forests.

Click here to learn more about the State of Canada's Forests.