Monthly Archives: March 2019

Don Vye

The union office for workers at the Port Alice pulp mill is located in an otherwise empty strip mall on the town’s main street. Inside, Unifor local 514 president Don Vye has been trying to keep his members working for the better part of his own 30-year career at the mill, which produces specialty cellulose. “Specially cellulose is used for everything from textiles to plastics, pharmaceuticals, right up to the high grades, which is nitro cellulose, which is used for gunpowder and explosives,” he said. Back when it was built in 1917, Port Alice was an ideal location for a pulp mill.  “The fibre is right in the local woodlands around this area,” Vye said. In the decades that followed, the mill provided employment for as many as 500 people. It was not always easy, and some owners went bankrupt. But the mill continued to drive the town’s economy.

Fire crews from Catalyst Paper and the Port Alberni Fire Department spent Monday morning (March 11) extinguishing a fire that started in the dryer at No. 4 paper machine. Crews were called to the mill after 8 a.m. and finally left the scene at approximately 12:30 p.m. No one was injured in the fire, according to a mill employee. A cause for the fire has not been released. Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation will be taking over ownership of Catalyst Paper sometime later this month. In February the Canadian Competition Bureau cleared the British Columbia-based company to complete its purchase, which involves the purchase of all of the shares of Catalyst.

With new confirmation that soil around a former wood-treatment plant in northeast Edmonton contains hazards to health, it’s fitting that the first priority of authorities is to investigate that risk. To that end, the province will work with federal officials on an epidemiological study around the site to explain the higher-than-expected levels of three types of cancer. But while the well-being of residents is the most pressing consideration, there are plenty of other questions arising from this toxic mess that demand answers in due course. Top among them: how was a suburban neighbourhood ever approved for development and built near land polluted with industrial chemicals? Who’s to blame and what can be done for residents who bought homes there in good faith? If this was allowed to happen once, what’s to keep it from happening again elsewhere in the province wherever the remnants of old manufacturing, petrochemical and mining facilities lie beneath the landscape? 

Forestry is an important sector for British Columbia, and B.C. is committed to sustainable forest management to preserve this natural resource. The province also leads the world in forest innovation with engineered wood products, the world’s tallest wooden structure and clean bio-energy. Looking to invest and expand? B.C. is the best place to grow.

In Port Alberni, and the rest of Vancouver Island, forestry jobs have been on the decline for the past two decades for reasons that include everything from increasing mechanization to shifts in global markets. …But a short drive down Port Alberni’s waterfront from the closed Somass mill, construction is starting on a brand new sawmill that is bringing some hope for new jobs. A BC company called the San Group is investing about $70 million to build the new mill and associated re-manufacturing plants. It plans to produce high-value engineered wood products from smaller logs. …The investment comes as the B.C. government implements policy changes for the forest industry. …In the meantime, Port Alberni Mayor Shari Minions is getting ready to welcome the first new mill operation in years, and the jobs that come along with it.

Susan Yurkovich

For some of B.C.’s largest export sectors, a potential disruption of trade with China – the spectre of which has risen after the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou – would be severe if not catastrophic. …As for one of B.C.’s biggest exporters to China, the forest products sector, a top official said she remains optimistic despite the risk of Ottawa’s relationship with Beijing deteriorating… “It’s not the only place where we have, from time to time, difficult trading issues,” said Susan Yurkovich, president and CEO of the Council of Forest Industries. “I mean, we’ve had trade issues with the U.S., too. It’s part of being in an export industry in an export country, and you are going to run into complications from time to time. We have to find a way to work through them.” China is again the second–largest destination for B.C. wood-product exports, taking up about 25% of the total.