$500 million in federal funding is now up for grabs after Canada opened calls for proposals under four forest‑sector transformation programs, with a $500,000 prefabricated housing project amongst the first to receive federal backing.
Known as “2×3 B‑I‑B” — which is short for Building in a Building — the Fredericton‑based project will use cross‑laminated timber, glulam, nail‑laminated timber and light‑frame walls with wood fibre insulation to construct prefabricated walls, floors, roofs, beams and columns from small‑dimension 2×3 lumber. Wood Central understands that the University of New Brunswick team is also running a cradle‑to‑grave life‑cycle analysis and cost assessment on the structure.
One of seven projects in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, worth a combined $2.8 million, the 2X3 B-I-B was announced alongside the national call by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson from Tracyville, New Brunswick. The other six span biofuel production, hemlock woolly adelgid treatment, Indigenous forestry management and export diversification. “Canada’s forests are more than a resource,” Hodgson said. “They are the foundation for good jobs, affordable housing and sustainable economic growth.”
Wood Central understands that, from today, eligible businesses can apply through IFIT, GCWood, the Indigenous Forestry Initiative (IFI) and the Global Forest Leadership Program (GloFor), with the programs designed to help companies innovate and diversify production, expand the use of Canadian wood in construction, support Indigenous participation and open new markets. ·
Canada has pledged $2 billion to shore up its timber supply since August
It comes after Wood Central revealed that the Carney government had pledged $1.2 billion in Budget 2025 to shore up forestry and scale mass timber — a package that included $700 million in loan guarantees and $500 million to renew NRCan programs. Those measures were followed by the creation of the Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, co‑chaired by Ken Kalesnikoff of Kalesnikoff Mass Timber and Frédéric Verreault of Chantiers Chibougamau, which is due to deliver its final report by April 18.
Wood Central understands the programs are central to Ottawa’s broader push to prioritise Canadian wood through its Buy Canadian Policy and Build Canada Homes, the $13 billion agency Prime Minister Carney launched in September. “Build Canada Homes will place an intense focus on using cost‑efficient and modern methods of construction such as factory‑built, modular and mass timber,” Carney said at the time. ·
The call comes at a bruising time for Canadian lumber. Producers face a combined 35.16 per cent in anti‑dumping and countervailing duties — up from 14.4 per cent — plus an additional 10 per cent under Section 232. The industry has paid more than $10 billion in duties since 2017, benchmark prices have fallen roughly 75 per cent from their 2021 highs, and U.S. sawmills now supply about 70 per cent of domestic American consumption.
- To learn more about the Canada–U.S. softwood dispute, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
