Monthly Archives: November 2019

KAMLOOPS — Many communities in the B.C. Interior are still reeling from reduced workforces, layoffs and closures. During the summer, more than 20 mills shut down or curtailed production, costing thousands of people their livelihoods. The crisis only deepened on Monday with Canfor announcing it will take a two-week curtailment at all of its B.C. sawmills beginning Dec. 23. The NDP says it’s making progress with initiatives like increasing the allowable cut for First Nations and creating a new community forest agreement in places like Quesnel. However, the MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin Donna Barnett argues the people out of work aren’t being helped quick enough. …According to the ministry, 500 laid-off sawmill workers have applied to the province’s retirement bridging program. …To date, about 4,000 people across 27 communities in B.C. are out of work due to mill closures. The NDP announced in September $69 million to help laid-off workers. 

Typically, 70 ships a week sail in and out of Vancouver harbour, but that number will quickly start to dwindle if the CN Rail strike drags on, said Chamber of Shipping president Robert Lewis-Manning. The labour dispute… halting about half of the rail traffic coming in and out of the Port of Vancouver. …And the interruption in rail transportation comes at an inopportune time for producers of forest products, which are suffering through terrible markets. “This is having a real impact on our companies now” at a time they can’t afford more disruptions, said Susan Yurkovich, CEO of COFI. Yurkovich said… production plants are starting to run short of raw materials they need, such as wood chips and, particularly for pulp mills, chemicals that they usually receive by rail. …“I’ve heard some producers say if they can’t get some of the raw materials (they need) they will be shutting down next week.”

KAMLOOPS — The forest crisis in B.C. isn’t impacting operations at Domtar in Kamloops, but the mill’s general manager says the pulp mill has been forced to find alternative sources for its fibre supply.  The lack of supply that has shut down sawmills during this crisis has also forced Domtar to go elsewhere and spend more money to get the fibre it needs to make pulp. “You need 2.3 tonnes of fibre in order to make a tonne of pulp, which is what we are making. It makes fibre rare and hard to get, and the fibre we can buy and find on the market is more expensive,” said Domtar’s mill general manager Jean-Claude Allaire. “And (the) pulp market is a global market, so we’re competing not only with Canadian mills but we’re competing with the global market.” 

As B.C. politicians argued in the legislature about the ongoing job losses in the forest industry Monday, Canfor announced its province-wide shutdown of sawmill operations from Christmas to after New Year’s Day. The shutdown is expected to remove 58 million board feet of production. …The announcement came as Minister Doug Donaldson was being questioned about Mosaic Forest Management’s shutdown of contract logging on Vancouver Island. Mosaic began its annual winter shutdown early. …Mosaic, a partnership of Island Timberlands and Timberwest formed in 2018, adds its curtailment to the five-month strike at Western Forest Products. …In the B.C. Interior, Tolko Industries announced that its Soda Creek sawmill is going from four days a week down to three. …Since November, Tolko has announced the permanent closure of its Kelowna sawmill. …“I’m not sure how much more communities like Williams Lake can take,” said MLA Donna Barnett.

VANCOUVER — Canfor Corporation announced it will be curtailing operations at all British Columbia sawmills at the end of December. All sawmills, with the exception of WynnWood, will be curtailed for two weeks from December 23 through January 3, with operations resuming on January 6. WynnWood will be curtailed for five days. The curtailments are due to the high cost of fibre and continued weak lumber markets, which are making the operating conditions in BC uneconomic. “We deeply regret that our employees have been impacted by multiple curtailments in 2019,” said Stephen Mackie, Senior VP. …These curtailments will remove almost 58 million board feet of production output and are in addition to all previously announced capacity reductions.

Tolko’s Soda Creek mill in Williams Lake will be see a three-day work beginning in December, something the company said back in September it was planning for. “The schedule is part of that flexible operating footprint of moving into something that would fluctuating between 100 per cent and 50 per cent at different points,” said Chris Downey. …United Steelworker Local 1-2017 first president Paul French said Monday he questioned how high prices have to get before things can start floating again. …The curtailment to three days at Soda Creek mill will begin next week and then be reviewed, he confirmed. “If the review comes back that it’s not that bad then they will go up to four or they will remain at three. It’s going to be week by week.”

It’s unfortunate that it’s the workers that are left suffering according to the First Vice President of the United Steelworkers Local 1-2017. Tolko will be further reducing its operating capacity at its Soda Creek Division in Williams Lake. This will result in approximately 150 employees having their four day work week now reduced to three starting Monday. Paul French says the frustrating thing for them is industry has gotten themselves in this spot. “Years ago we had the appurtenancy clause where timber was sent to the mills for a designated area in the free market,” he says.  “Just basically now they compete to buy the timber off each other, and so unfortunately when the market drops and the cost that they paid for logs isn’t valued for the price that they’re selling it for it’s the members that take the hit and our members are dropping like flies.”

At the B.C. NDP’s fall convention in Victoria on Saturday B.C. Premier John Horgan celebrated people, progress and what he calls his party’s many achievements over the last two years. …Despite the celebratory mood at the convention, outside teachers rallied to draw attention to stalled contract talks. …The NDP is also facing a crisis in the province’s forestry sector as 25 mills have ceased operating this year, which has left more than 6,000 people out of work. David Elstone, spokesperson for the B.C. Truck Loggers Association, said Friday that the situation is grim for many families who rely on a healthy sector for their livelihoods. “It’s devastating,” he said “People are going to food banks, people’s trucks are being repossessed, there’s fundraisers. This is for an industry that’s been here for over a century. It’s been a breadbasket for us. And it’s crumbling.”

…It comes as the Western Forest Products strike nears the end of its fifth month, prompting Port McNeill’s mayor to pen a personal letter calling for an end to the strike.“It has been phenomenal how communities have come together but it’s heartbreaking to see,” said Gaby Wickstrom.“I know families that are paying their bills with IGA gift cards that have been donated to them.” …Port Alberni resident Lunn Lyons is among the subcontractors impacted by the strike. …He says it’s time the two sides reach an agreement but he believes the industry is broken.“They’re shipping our raw logs down to the United States and all over the world….”During his address at this weekend’s NDP convention, Premier John Horgan said it’s time for the forestry industry to change how it operates.“We need to create more jobs, more innovation.”

By Susan Yurkovich

The idea of designating an area of British Columbia’s forest land base as a so-called “working forest” isn’t new, but with the industry in crisis, an industry group thinks now is the time to bring it back into consideration. B.C.’s forest sector is at the start of a major period of transition and taking a step to create for industry secure access to a portion of the province’s dwindling timber reserves is the industry’s No. 1 priority, said Susan Yurkovich, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries. “Access to fibre is hands down the most important,” Yurkovich said Friday during a speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade that laid out her Council’s priorities in dealing with the long list of challenges facing the industry. …“Let’s have a balance,” Yurkovich said. “Let’s say out loud that we value forestry also as a working forest, as a place that drives jobs and economic benefits.”