> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # B.C. Cancelled Its Softwood Lumber Tariff Ad Campaign Before a Single Ad Ran - URL: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/bc-softwood-lumber-ad-campaign-cancelled/ - Published: 2026-09-01T12:24:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-01T12:24:12.000Z - Description: FOI records show B.C.'s U.S. softwood lumber ad campaign went from concept package to cancelled in five days, with no budget figure anywhere in the release. - Author: Steve Cogbill - Tags: Government Files, British Columbia Government Files is The Canada Report's public-records analysis series examining government documents obtained through Canada's Access to Information (ATI) and provincial Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. These transparency laws allow members of the public to request internal government records from federal and provincial institutions. This article reviews documents released through those processes and summarizes what the records contain and what they show. While we strive for accuracy, this article represents an analysis and interpretation of the source material. For complete accuracy and full context, readers should review the original documents, which are available in full below. ## Full Document *The complete document is available for download below:* [GCP-2025-52398GCP-2025-52398.pdf3 MBdownload-circle](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/content/files/2026/08/GCP-2025-52398.pdf "Download") --- British Columbia's plan to run anti-tariff advertising in the United States collapsed within days of the creative work reaching government desks. Records released under B.C.'s Freedom of Information legislation show the public affairs firm Earnscliffe Strategies delivered a concept package titled Softwood Lumber Tariff Campaign on October 29, 2025, that the Ministry of Forests circulated it internally for feedback the same morning, and that on November 3 the ministry's communications director told the firm the province would not be moving forward. The 88-page release, request number GCP-2025-52398, was processed by Government Communications and Public Engagement and covers correspondence between October 24 and November 3, 2025\. The requester, identified in the disclosure log as a political party, asked for all records, emails, contracts, receipts and correspondence relating to the anti-tariff campaign Premier David Eby announced in late October, and specifically for the full budget planned for it. No budget figure appears anywhere in the released pages. ## What the Documents Show The file opens on the evening of October 23, when Sonya Zeitler Fletcher, vice-president of market development at Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., forwarded Andy Watson, communications director at the Ministry of Forests, two news links under the subject line "Tariff talks off due to advert." By the next morning she was circulating a screenshot of a social media post from Eby announcing that the province was making ads to defend British Columbia and Canada's forestry workers, with the line that B.C. wood faces higher U.S. tariffs than Russia. What followed was a rapid build. On the morning of October 24, Watson told colleagues that GCPE staff were producing a graphic based on a winners and losers concept for the Premier and the forests minister that same afternoon. Lisa Higgins, FII's director of marketing and communications, sent through social graphics for the minister. A shared key messages and Q&A document titled Tariffs KMs - 10-24 was circulated to staff across the Premier's Office, the Ministry of Forests and GCPE. That same afternoon, Watson presented to the SLAC committee, and the national president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada wrote afterwards to thank him for explaining what the intention of the ad would be. The forestry file was already politically active in B.C. that autumn, with the province [pursuing new export markets in China](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/bc-forestry-china-agreement/) as U.S. duties climbed. The advertising push was pitched as a companion effort aimed south of the border rather than at diversification. Media interest arrived almost immediately. On October 24, a Government Communications officer relayed a request from a CBC producer ahead of a Sunday interview on Rosemary Barton Live, asking when the campaign was launching, whether any version of the ad could be shared, and whether a budget for the ad buy had been set. Eric Berndt, assistant deputy minister of strategic communications, replied plainly that the ads were not ready yet. Three days later, Bob Mackin of The Breaker News filed a request through the Ministry of Finance asking for the approved budget, the schedule, and the identity of the media buying and creative contractors. Berndt's recommendation was to push the request to FII and coordinate the media response with the Crown corporation rather than answer from GCPE. ****Want future Government Files like this?** We release new Canadian public-records breakdowns weekly. [Get Government Files by email ](#/portal/signup/free) ## Who Was Actually Building the Campaign The records place the work outside the ministry itself. Earnscliffe Strategies, a public affairs firm, was developing the creative, with Zubin Sanyal, the firm's principal for digital strategy, and colleague Meg Black as the points of contact. Their client relationship ran through Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., the provincial Crown corporation behind the naturallywood brand, with the Ministry of Forests reviewing and approving alongside it. When Berndt reached out to FII on October 26 to ask about the status of the campaign, Zeitler Fletcher's reply included one telling line: the corporation could halt work with the vendor at any time. The approval chain ran on initials. Watson circulated the concept package to four colleagues on the morning of October 29 with a note that it was not for sharing with the minister yet, then told his team later that afternoon that he wanted a decision in the morning from MRP so the package could move to PO for a final say. Neither abbreviation is expanded anywhere in the release. A separate internal review the same day produced no concerns, with a Forests staffer confirming there were no red flags in the ad options being compiled. ## What the Public Was Told About Cost The prepared Q&A gives the clearest picture of the province's public posture. Asked how much the ads would cost, the approved answer was that the campaign was much smaller than Ontario's and targeted at those who needed to hear the message about the new softwood lumber duties, followed by an offer to provide exact figures when the ads launched. A third bullet under that same question is withheld under sections 13 and 17 of the province's FOI legislation, which cover policy advice and harm to the financial or economic interests of a public body. On timing, the messaging was specific: the province would launch a digital campaign in November in the U.S. market, informing Americans about the impact of softwood lumber tariffs and duties on middle-class families and housing affordability. Asked directly whether B.C. would still proceed after Doug Ford stopped Ontario's Reagan ad, the approved answer was that the campaign was specific to softwood and aimed at decision makers, and that the ads were running in November. None of that happened. The contrast is sharper when set against other B.C. advertising files that have gone through the same disclosure process, where [campaign budgets and government contributions appear in the records](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/provincial-government-boosted-icbc-enhanced-care-advertising/). Here the cost material is either absent or severed. ## The Cancellation Earnscliffe told FII on October 31 that the feedback was clear and a revised package would be back on Monday. The firm also asked Watson for a Monday call, offering a 12:30 p.m. Pacific slot to walk through updates. That call never took place. At 4:46 p.m. on November 3, Watson wrote to Sanyal and Black, copying Zeitler Fletcher, to say the province would not be moving forward with the campaign at this time. The explanation that followed is withheld under sections 13 and 16, the latter covering harm to intergovernmental relations or negotiations. Watson apologized for the pivot, said he had enjoyed working with the team, and cancelled the afternoon call. Sanyal's reply thanked him for the opportunity. From the delivery of the concept package to the cancellation was five days. From Eby's public announcement to the cancellation was roughly a week and a half. No advertisement from the campaign is described as having run. ## What's Not in the Records The gaps here are unusually specific, because the request was unusually specific. It asked for contracts and receipts alongside correspondence, and named the full planned budget as a required element. The release contains no contract, no purchase order, no invoice, and no dollar figure of any kind. It does not say what FII had committed to Earnscliffe, whether any portion was payable on cancellation, or what the province had earmarked for the media buy. The creative is missing too. The Earnscliffe concept package is attached three separate times across the release, and in each instance only the title slide and the closing thank-you slide appear. The thirteen pages between them are not in the record, which means the ad concepts the province spent nine days reviewing, revising and ultimately rejecting are not visible in a release ostensibly about that campaign. The media plan Earnscliffe promised to send shortly after the concepts is likewise absent. Redactions across the file lean heavily on section 13, the advice and recommendations exemption, with section 16 applied to intergovernmental material, section 17 to financial information, and section 22 to personal privacy. Applied together, they remove nearly all of the substantive assessment: the summary Watson prepared after consulting colleagues, the minister's feedback, the pros and cons compiled for each ad option, and the stated reason the campaign was dropped. ## Broader Context The file is a compact record of a communications decision made under external pressure. Ontario's Reagan advertisement, and Donald Trump's response of ending trade talks and threatening an additional tariff increase, bracket the entire correspondence. Watson forwarded an Angus Reid Institute poll on the Ontario ad to Earnscliffe on October 31 as a Friday note; three days later the B.C. campaign was off. The records do not connect those two events, and the withheld sections make it impossible to say from the release alone whether the reversal was driven by trade negotiations, cost, message testing, or something else. What the file does establish is a documented sequence: a public commitment to advertise in November, a Crown corporation engaging an outside agency, an internal approval process running through the minister's office and the Premier's office, and a cancellation before anything reached an American audience. It also establishes that a request explicitly seeking the budget produced no budget, which is itself a finding. B.C.'s FOI releases have produced [similar gaps between what was asked and what was delivered](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/bc-health-connect-registry-attachment-gap/) on other files this year. **Support Public-Records Analysis** This analysis is based on government records released under access-to-information laws. If this breakdown was useful, you can support future Government Files work with a one-time tip. [Support Government Files](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/#/portal/support) [View Other Government Files](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/tag/government-files/) *All documents and details referenced are from B.C. Government Communications and Public Engagement, request GCP-2025-52398, obtained through a Freedom of Information request covering October 24 to November 3, 2025\. The 88-page release contains internal email correspondence, prepared media messaging, and partial copies of an advertising concept package prepared for Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd.* ## Sign up for The Canada Report Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. Your modern digest of Canadian news. Friendly, clear, and in your inbox.