B.C. Premier David Eby had hoped Monday that federal ministers attending a forestry meeting in Vancouver would commit to improving employment insurance benefits for forestry workers and fast-tracking previously promised help to producers with loans, as well as finding new markets.

While the crisis meeting with Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson did end with the formation of a new working group to help fast-track aid to the sector, which has been hit hard by U.S. tariffs and fees, there were no firm commitments on employment insurance.

Eby told reporters he believes Ottawa now understands the scale of the crisis facing B.C.’s forestry sector, which has seen thousands of jobs lost in recent years, but admitted it has been a long, frustrati

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