BDC Forestry Support Program
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Eligibility & Details
What this program funds and who can apply
Program Description
Financing and advisory support from BDC for forestry businesses affected by U.S. tariffs, duties and trade uncertainty. The programme has three offers. Liquidity support provides working capital of $250,000 to $25 million for forestry manufacturers and $250,000 to $10 million for forestry service companies. Transformation support provides $1 million to $25 million to forestry manufacturers only, paired with BDC Advisory Services and a required transformation plan, for automation, AI, equipment and strategic growth. The Softwood Lumber Guarantee Program is indirect: term loans and letters of credit of $500,000 to $50 million per borrower group are issued by a participating financial institution and backed by a BDC guarantee.
Eligibility Requirements
- Based and headquartered in Canada with operations in Canada
- Minimum $1 million in annual revenue
- 3 years or more in operation
- Forestry manufacturing (sawmills, remanufacturing facilities, pulp and paper mills, finished wood product manufacturers) for any of the three offers, or forestry service companies (lumber harvesting, forestry transportation) for Liquidity support only
- Obligations sufficiently covered before 2025, with an exception for sawmills
- Forestry service companies must report at least 60% of revenue from harvesting or hauling logs, timber or primary wood products
- Finished wood product manufacturers must show at least 15% of revenue subject to U.S. tariffs, with tariffs representing at least 5% of total revenue
- Sawmills must be subject, or potentially subject, to U.S. softwood lumber duties
- Remanufacturing, pulp and paper and service companies qualify on financial impact instead: a minimum 20% annual revenue decline or a 15% reduction in annual EBITDA
- Liquidity financing must be used strictly for operational cash flow in Canadian operations
- Transformation financing requires a transformation plan and must be used strictly to implement the transformation project
- Transformation support is not available to forestry service companies
- Softwood Lumber Guarantee applicants must apply through their primary financial institution, which must be a participating Canadian regulated deposit-taking institution holding a first-ranking security interest
Quick Assessment
Funding Details
- Amount
- $250,000 to $50 million depending on the streamLiquidity support: $250,000 to $25 million for forestry manufacturers, $250,000 to $10 million for forestry service companies. Transformation support: $1 million to $25 million, forestry manufacturers only. Softwood Lumber Guarantee: $500,000 to $50 million per eligible borrower group.
- Type
- Loan
- Level
- Federal
- Deadline
- Available until December 31, 2026, or until the envelope is fully used — whichever comes first.
Program Scorecard
Competition, effort, and approval at a glance
Difficult — significant preparation needed
Moderate competition — prepare a strong application
Complex — detailed documentation needed
How to qualify
Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like
Insider TipDecide which stream you are in before you call: the Transformation stream is closed to harvesting and hauling companies, and taking the bank-issued Softwood Lumber Guarantee closes the Liquidity door for mills and remanufacturers.
Rejection Pitfalls 8
- Annual revenue below $1 million
Success Profile
How BDC Forestry Support Program judges your application
What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.
Distilled from 2 source documents on bdc.ca, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-07.
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What BDC Forestry Support Program favours
Direct or indirect negative impact from U.S. tariffs or downturn◦
“Businesses must demonstrate direct or indirect negative material impact on their operations and profitability due to U.S. tariffs or related uncertainties or current economic downturn.”
The form
Choose your solution
- 1Choose your forestry support solutionselection
Prepare your documents
- 2Transformation planupload
- 3Documents to prepare after the online applicationlist
BDC Forestry Support Program states no length limits for these answers.
Judged against
- 1
How have tariffs actually hurt your business?
Show them Quantify the direct or indirect drop in operations and profitability caused by U.S. tariffs, and back it with recent financial statements and cash-flow statements.◦
In the funder’s words · 1
- Businesses must demonstrate direct or indirect negative material impact on their operations and profitability due to U.S. tariffs or related uncertainties or current economic downturn.
- 2
Was the business sound before the tariffs?
What to show, and the funder’s 1 criterion behind it in Premium
- 3
Are you an eligible forestry manufacturer?
What to show them in Premium
- 4
What will the money change?
What to show them in Premium
Premium · the rest of this brief
See all 2 rules that can reject you and every criterion you are judged on. Then we draft your application for you.
1 more criteria · 2 more prompts
Do you pass?
Each one can rule you out. Tick the ones you meet.
Your business
No Liquidity loan after Softwood guarantee
If you’ve obtained a loan through the Softwood Lumber Loan Guarantee Program, you are ineligible for the Liquidity loan.
Forestry manufacturers only
For forestry manufacturers only
Documents to attach
Ticks are kept on this device.
The money
StackingOther support allowed, except Softwood Lumber Guarantee/Liquidity
Other BDC or government support may be used where permitted, except for the stated Softwood Lumber Guarantee/Liquidity exclusion.
What it pays for · 2
- Working capital for operational cash flow
- Investment projects under Transformation
From application to money
- Submit the online applicationApply online until December 31, 2026
- Or apply via your lenderGuarantee route via participating lender
- Attach your transformation planTransformation plan: investments, costs, gains
- Prepare requested documentsGather chart, financials, cash-flow, tariff evidence
In the funder’s words · 4
- Submit the online application
- Complete BDC's online application for Liquidity or Transformation support; a representative then contacts you to request documents. (Until December 31, 2026 or full utilization of the envelope allotment)
- Or apply via your lender
- An eligible softwood-lumber borrower instead applies through its participating financial institution for the guarantee route.
- Attach your transformation plan
- Transformation support requires a plan with projected investments, costs and expected gains.
- Prepare requested documents
- Gather the organizational chart, three years of financial statements, cash-flow statements, borrowing-base and compliance material, and tariff evidence if you finish wood products.
Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.
Everything you need to secure BDC Forestry Support Program
Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.
- 8 rejection pitfalls reviewers flag — so you catch them first
- 6-document checklist with what each reviewer is actually checking
- Your Application Game Plan — the print-ready PDF the preview below describes
- Insider tip from program officers on what separates winners
- 2-program stacking strategy to combine with compatible funding
- Success profile + evaluation criteria — exactly what lenders look for
Application Playbook
Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses
Application steps not yet documented.
Required Documents 6
Eligible Expenses 4
Ineligible Expenses 2
Deadline Notes
Ineligible Organizations
- 4 more required documents
- 4 eligible expenses
- 2 ineligible expenses
- Deadline notes
- Ineligible organizations
Funding Stack Strategy
Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential
Compatible Programs
Clawback Risk
Not-applicable RiskHow BDC Forestry Support Program Compares
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