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Kruger has revealed the details of its planned $700 million investment in Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, and it’s a big plan that involves a change in the way the mill makes paper and how it generates energy. Darren Pelley, Kruger’s vice-president of special projects, provided an overview of the project, which has been dubbed Project Tuckamore, during a luncheon meeting of the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade at the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook on Tuesday, July 14. Project Tuckamore is “a generational change,” and one that involves a major revitalization and investment in operations, Pelley said. “We are investing in the long-term future. Kruger is committed to the long-term operation of the mill here in Corner Brook but also all their operations for Deer Lake and the region,” said Pelley. “This project is something that is an investment in our community and is an investment for the long-term.”
Additional coverage in the CBC, by Ashley Fitzpatrick: Corner Brook community hopes raised as Kruger pitches Project Tuckamore
HUNTSVILLE, Ontario — The Ontario government is investing an additional $425,000 through the Forest Biomass Program to help Daiken North America accelerate production of its new laminated board. This investment will help get a first-of-its-kind wood panel product to market faster, boosting productivity and protecting good-paying local jobs. As part of its plan to protect Ontario, the government is making strategic investments to help forest sector businesses adapt, compete and grow to stay resilient in the face of U.S. tariffs. Today’s announcement builds on the government’s recent investment of 
BELLEVILLE, Ontario — The government is investing more than $3.3 million in 
The global trade landscape is shifting rapidly, which has created uncertainty and challenges for workers, industries and communities across Canada. …Workers whose jobs have been directly or indirectly impacted by global tariffs will receive support to help them adapt, retrain and succeed, as a result of a partnership agreement announced today by Wayne Long, Secretary of State, alongside Jean-Claude D’Amours, New Brunswick’s Minister of Training and Labour. …Specifically, $13.8 million over three years will be invested through the new Canada–New Brunswick Workforce Tariff Response to support workers in the softwood lumber, mining, construction and transportation sectors, as well as other directly and indirectly tariff-affected industries. This new funding will help over 1,500 workers in New Brunswick build new skills and seize emerging opportunities.
Three years ago, the Ontario Building Code required that any developer taking on a mid-rise wood-frame building had to construct stairwells out of non-combustible material. That was expensive. It made construction challenging, and, according to the Canadian Wood Council, resulted in a lower adoption of wood-frame building. Since that requirement was removed in 2023, allowing full buildings to be constructed with wood, interest in mid-rise wood-frame building has increased considerably, especially for residential builds, said Hailey Quiquero, with the WoodWorks Ontario program, an initiative of the Canadian Wood Council. “Now, in our market, we’re sitting at around 50% of five- and six-storey buildings being built out of wood construction, so a great jump,” Quiquero said. “We’ve still got a long way to go. In BC, I think it’s greater than 80% of this market.” …Currently in Ontario, mid-rise wood-frame building is largely being used in residential projects, Quiquero said.
Three years ago, the Ontario Building Code required that any developer taking on a mid-rise wood-frame building had to construct stairwells out of non-combustible material. That was expensive. It made construction challenging, and, according to the 
Mississauga city staff are reviewing a proposal for a “wood recovery facility” and an associated office building near Winston Churchill Boulevard and Lakeshore Road near the Oakville border. Applications have been submitted to amend the official plan and zoning to permit the facility, which would recover wood material to be used as a fuel source, according to the city. …local councillor, Alvin Tedjo said the cement plant provides roughly a third of all the cement for the province but still uses coal, adding the proposed wood recovery plant would provide low-carbon fuels. “The idea is that this plant would then create and process the materials in order to be used in the cement process which would then significantly reduce the use of coal and actually is part of removing coal completely from the (cement) plant so that we can be fully coal-free in Mississauga,” Tedjo said in a June 4 interview.
NOVA SCOTIA — When Tricia Murray rebuilt her home after the devastating 2023 wildfires, she expected her insurance premiums to soar. …Instead, her premium dropped by 12%… because her new home uses modern, fire-resistant materials and incorporates a buffer zone. Murray’s experience highlights a shift in how insurance companies calculate risk. For decades, insurers relied purely on history, it was classified as low risk. ….Instead of grading entire neighbourhoods under one risk level, insurers are using advanced tools like satellite imagery and laser scanning to assess individual properties. This new approach looks at specific, real-time details: The proximity of trees and brush to a structure. The type of roofing and building materials used. Property maintenance, such as clearing dry leaves from decks and removing wood chips near walls. Amanda Dean, at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said those tools give homeowners the power to lower their own risks by following FireSmart Canada guidelines.
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A forestry group that was granted an interlocutory injunction halting a blockade by a family from Matachewan First Nation (MFN) so it could complete tree-harvesting work in northern Ontario will sit down in a listening circle with them later this month in a case that may see further court action. The Timiskaming Forest Alliance Inc. (TFAI) is a consortium of forestry companies and First Nations, including MFN. It has a licence from Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to harvest 101 hectares, referred to as Cairo 173… The family involved includes Dorothy Larkman, who said she decided to take action after seeing machines tearing out blueberry bushes on Cairo 173, which is about 60 kilometres west of Kirkland Lake and south of the Ojibway First Nation. …Listening circles are rooted in Indigenous traditions. …Michael Swinwood, Larkman’s lawyer, said the MNR will also have representation at the listening circle. 
Funding for replanting harvested Crown forests in Ontario depends heavily on how much wood is cut, foresters say, creating challenges for renewal efforts during market downturns and reduced harvest levels. Back Roads Bill explores regreening efforts and issues surrounding it. …The forest sector has been a lifeline for communities across the country and an important pillar of Canada’s economy. In the face of unjust U.S. trade measures and climate goals, Canada’s forest industry is pivoting from traditional lumber toward a bioeconomy. It was on February 26 of this year that the federal government took decisive action with a massive $500-million transformation fund. This will support the forest sector, protect workers and their jobs, and give companies the stability they need to weather short-term shocks and retool for a stronger, more diversified future. …A couple of other things though. Our forests are well managed. And we need trees and therefore tree planting.
In 2025’s budget, Ontario allotted $135 million for its Emergency Forest Firefighting fund, which Firefighter Noah Freedman describes as money that “keeps the lights on.” The province ended up spending double that: $271 million, according to this year’s budget. But that same document penciled in just $150 million again for this year. The province did not respond to requests from Canada’s National Observer asking why the budget hasn’t been increased. Not allotting adequate funds translates to real impacts on the frontlines, said Freedman, who is also vice president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 703. He said last season was “riddled with logistical problems” due to a lack of available funding: not having crews and helicopters where they were needed, and scrambling to request more… “None of that is because of our leadership in our agency. It’s a result of not getting anywhere near the funding that we need to truly be decision-makers,” Freedman said.
Three years ago, Barb Round heard heavy machinery chewing through the urban forest behind her home in Campbell River, a small city on east Vancouver Island that bills itself as the salmon capital of the world. Round waved down a man in a hard hat and asked why the excavator was working in the greenway, which is a haven for birds, dotted with pocket wetlands and adjacent to Simms Creek, home to four salmon species. “He explained to me that the property had been sold,” Round, a retired nurse, tells The Tyee. “Everyone in the neighbourhood thought it was protected land.” When residents found out a local developer planned to cut down much of the forest and fill in the wetlands to build a large housing development near the creek, “they were gobsmacked,” Round says.
Hydro-Québec has reached an agreement with the Atikamekw community of Opitciwan and Société en commandite Onimiskiw Opitciwan (SCOO) to build a 4.8MW forest biomass cogeneration plant that will replace the community’s diesel-fired power generation, with commercial operation expected to begin this month. Under the 25-year agreement … the utility will also fund the acquisition and installation of a dryer at the Opitciwan sawmill, majority-owned by the Conseil des Atikamekw d’Opitciwan (CAO). The project is estimated to cost C$60.2 million (around $45 million), with funding contributions from the Quebec provincial and Canadian federal governments alongside investment from CAO and SCOO. The Atikamekw are a First Nations people numbering around 8,000 across several communities in northern Quebec; Opitciwan itself is home to close to 3,000 residents. …”Replacing the current diesel plant with one that’s powered by forest biomass from the sawmill is a huge step forward,” said Denis Clary, President of SCOO.
The Nova Scotia government has issued a tender to convert five public buildings to wood heat systems — a move one member of the forestry sector says will have widespread benefits. The tender targets heating infrastructure at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Kingstec campus, Roseway Hospital in Shelburne, Digby General Hospital, Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, and St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish. …Successful bidders will also be responsible for procuring the wood fuel. The province stated in the tender documents that it “expects the focus of wood procurement to be from small private woodlots,” stipulating that 100 per cent of the lower-grade primary wood fuel must be harvested within Nova Scotia. …Marcus Zwicker, Forest Nova Scotia, added that requiring boilers to be fed with Nova Scotia product opens up new markets for local forestry contractors and woodlot owners while ensuring cheaper wood cannot be brought in from outside jurisdictions.
NEW BRUNSWICK — NB Power says it has green lit a plan to buy 300,000 tonnes of wood pellets this year in efforts to convert its largest power plant in northern New Brunswick from coal to biomass. The Crown utility says it’s now in procurement talks with five potential suppliers, all within Eastern Canada, to supply the Belledune Generating Station. That’s as the Holt government has quietly issued a Crown timber sub-licence to one of those five, a partnership between Eel River Bar First Nation, Pabineau First Nation, and Arbec Forest Products. The trio, together behind what’s being called the Belledune Biocoal Joint Venture Group, has also recently filed an environmental impact assessment with the Department of Environment and Local Government to build a torrefied wood pellet production facility at the Port of Belledune in support of NB Power’s transition away from coal burning power generation.
NEW BRUNSWICK — On the morning of May 26, a provincial air quality monitoring station on the west side of Saint John began registering unusual readings. …There was no special public notification about the west side spike, even though the environment department watched it develop and was concerned enough to launch an immediate investigation to determine the cause. …The department, in emails, said it believes operations and maintenance work at the Irving Pulp & Paper mill could have been a contributing factor. …“The cause appears to be a combination of unusual weather, which trapped pollutants at ground level rather than dispersing them upward, combined with higher than ordinary emissions during a cleaning/maintenance cycle at the mill.” J.D. Irving said there is “no concrete way to confirm” it caused the poor air quality readings but said adjustments in mill operations were made at the time to be on the safe side.
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A massive fire near Gogama has doubled in size again overnight. This morning (June 4), the Ministry of Natural Resources mapping has the fire at 2,945 hectares. That’s more than double what it was last night, when it was reported as 1,100 hectares. Here’s what you need to know about the situation today:
As cooler, rainier weather has eased wildfire risks in northwestern Ontario, a number of travel restrictions have been lifted in the region. An implementation order was first issued Saturday near a wildfire known as Fort Frances 5 in the Dryden, Fort Frances and Atikokan district, limiting travel and certain activities. On Sunday, a second implementation order was put in place due to a fire called Fort Frances 4 in the same district “to ensure public safety and/or to ensure effective fire suppression.” Both orders were lifted Tuesday evening. “All travel and the use of roads and lakes in the areas previously identified are available and residents may return to their properties. Wildland fire suppression activities are ongoing on Fort Frances 4 and Fort Frances 5, but public safety relating to these fires is no longer a concern,” according to the province’s