Duncan British Columbia, Canada, 22 October 2007 –- Western Forest Products Inc. (TSX: WEF) today announced that the agreement reached between Forest Industrial Relations Ltd., the association bargaining on behalf of 31 coastal forestry companies including Western, and the United Steelworkers Union has been ratified by the Union membership.

Key provisions of the agreement include: a three-year term expiring 14 June 2010, with wage increases of 2%, 3%, and 2%, respectively; the continuation of flexible shifting, provided it is based on a bona fide business rationale; a new provision for severance pay for permanent closures of the principle processing and production operations of a site, even if minor parts of the site stay running; and a renewal of the Return on Capital Employed profit sharing provision.

The strike action commenced on 21 July 2007 and affected most of Western’s timberlands and manufacturing operations. Commenting on the ratification of the new agreement, Reynold Hert, president and CEO, noted, “Although it was a difficult strike we are satisfied with the provisions of the new agreement with
the United Steelworkers Union and look forward to our employees returning to work.” He went on to say, “The agreement has an appropriate balance between retaining skilled workers in a competitive labor market and business flexibility in the current challenging lumber market conditions.”

Western’s operations are returning to work this week with logging camps and mills beginning production as personnel return and pre-start up safety training reviews are completed. The late start of fall timber harvesting may affect the total availability of logs, depending on the onset of winter weather conditions.

Western Forest Products

Western is an integrated Canadian forest products company and the largest coastal British Columbia woodland operator and lumber producer. Its annual available harvest is approximately 7.5 million cubic meters of timber, of which 7.3 million cubic meters is from Crown lands and 0.2 million cubic meters from private timberlands. It has lumber capacity in excess of 1.5 billion board feet from eight sawmills and four remanufacturing plants. Principal activities conducted by the company and its subsidiaries include timber harvesting, reforestation, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, and value-added remanufacturing. Substantially all of Western’s operations, employees, and corporate facilities are located in the coastal region of British Columbia, while its products are sold in over 20 countries worldwide.