David: I get the impression there's a silent majority of people who sort of see the rationality of balance between using the forests and renewing the forests, but why do you think there's this landslide of people who believe that business is bad, and it's inherently evil, and that the forest industry is an evil industry? Why do you think so many people subscribe to it? Children, educators, all kinds of people.
Mark: That's a good question. You know, in every field there's good and bad. There's good companies, there's bad companies. There's good environmentalists, there's bad environmentalists. To blanket all companies or large corporations as "evil" is so incredibly ignorant. I mean, I know why that sentiment pervades; it's because it's pushed by the teachers, the university professors, the media, the left wing in Canada - and not just in Canada, but the left-wing, politically correct type has somehow managed to infiltrate all of the influential organs in our society, like the universities, the schools, the media. They dominate, and those people are the most intolerant people out there because they will not listen to any position that contradicts what they consider to be inherently correct, which is their point of view. "Anyone who does not agree with our point of view is, by definition, trailer-park trash, redneck, homophobic, racist. There is no other point of view. There's our point of view, and there's the irrational point of view." The point is that for every issue, there's two sides, so you should be able to have dialogue about it. But unfortunately, as I said, those groups that control the thought police in this country are so powerful. There is no dialogue, there's no other point of view. Given that I would say fifty percent of Canadians don't agree with them, it is amazing that they've managed to dominate to the degree that - you know, actually, I would say there's a large portion of the population that could go either way, that end up they don't think for themselves maybe as much as they should, and they end up being brainwashed, and these people manage to do a lot of brainwashing. I think it will hurt this country in the long run, because as I said, our standard of living does not come from those people. Everything has to be paid for, and what pays for it? Business.
David: What would you, as someone who well knows the forest industry, most like to see change, as far as the dialogue - or rather, lack of dialogue - is concerned?
Mark: The biggest thing I would like to see is that some of these issues just could get talked about reasonably, all sides, and presented reasonably from all sides.
David: I can remember ten, fifteen years ago, there was tremendous protests in Clayoquot Sound that made the news all over the world. I'm not sure, but this crowd seems to be a little quieter these days. I was just wondering, this sort of protest, this sort of violent protest that goes on in all kinds of forms - has it ever affected your company directly? Have you ever, in some way, been affected by these protesters?
Mark: Not that I could recall. We haven't been involved in a coast. Most of those protests have been in the coastal forests in B.C., like on Vancouver Island or the Queen Charlotte's there at Clayoquot Sound. Those seem to have been the major battlegrounds, and the environmentalists made up the "Great Bear Rainforest." Like, what's that? That's something they made up. How many people have ever been to any of those forests? How many? How many can it be? Nobody ever goes to them, and yeah, they're old-growth, and sure we can preserve some old-growth, I guess. I think it would make more sense if more people were able to go see it and take advantage. I mean, when you say old-growth, those trees were new once too. There were trees there before those trees were there, you know? You're going to preserve that Clayoquot Sound, five years from now there'll be a forest fire move through there, and it won't be there anymore. But I guess, if it makes people feel good to think that we're preserving the wilderness, and that's fine, as long as it's kept within reason.
