Region Archives: Canada East

Rick Doman

Itasca Capital Ltd. says it will add businessmen Paul Rivett and Rick Doman to its board of directors to help pursue additional lumber investments after buying a Kenora sawmill and related assets for $11.5 million. Rivett has been in the news… in the purchase of newspaper publisher Torstar Corp. for $60 million. …Doman is the founder of Montreal-based Eacom Timber Corp. …The Kenora mill is being purchased through a court-appointed receiver by an Itasca investee company and is to be renamed GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. It has access to up to 450,000 cubic meters per year of northern SPF timber and is equipped to produce up to 100 million board feet per year of lumber on two shifts. Itasca says it is expected that the Kenora sawmill can be optimized to boost capacity to 200 million board feet annually.

Greg Rickford & Doug Ford

At the groundbreaking for a new gold mine near Gogama, Premier Doug Ford didn’t say very much about his promise to give northern Ontario a bigger cut of the money the province makes from its natural resources. He pledged to share mine and forest revenues with northern communities in the 2018 election and says his “all-star” minister of Northern Development and Mines Greg Rickford is working on it. …Rickford had said the plan would be unveiled by the end of 2020, but is now saying it will be released in the “not too distant future” along with a revamped Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. …The agreement also sees 45 per cent of the stumpage fees collected from forest companies working in the area split evenly among the six Wabun communities.

KENORA, Ontario — A numbered company 1347 LLC operating under Itasca Capital has announced the purchase of Kenora Forest Products for $11.5 million earlier today. Along with the sawmill, Itasca Capital has added Rick Doman of Eacom and Doman Industries to its board, along with Paul Rivett. Rivett has joined with John Bitove to buy the Toronto Star for $60 million. Bitove is the founding owner for the Toronto Raptors. The sale of the sawmill is expected to close Oct. 5, following a court approved sale Sept. 9 in Winnipeg. …Itasca Capital will be changing its name to operate under GreenFirst Forest Products. …The media release issued following the purchase says assets include the sawmill and related equipment and lands of approximately 114 acres. 

…An announcement of $1.7 million from FedNor will help companies served by the Innovation Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Production (ICAMP) at Canadore College in North Bay continue to research, develop and create new products, as well as adopt new technology. …ICAMP was one of 15 recipient projects in the Nipisisng and Timiskaming areas included in funding of more than $6.7 million from the federal funding agency on Sept. 16. …Ontario Wood WORKS! will receive $90,000 to promote the province’s forestry sector and its economic, social and ecological benefits.

Seven months ago, when the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County shut down after failing to secure approval to build a new effluent treatment facility, many people in the forestry sector — Robin Wilber, president of Elmsdale Lumber, included — feared the worst. With the province’s largest buyer of wood chips and other byproducts out of the game, sawmills such as Elmsdale feared for their future. After all, a log can’t be cut into boards without producing byproducts, and those byproducts need to go somewhere. Then came COVID-19, and fears increased. …But rather than prompting a shutdown, COVID-19 drove many people — hunkered down at home trying to help flatten the curve — to start thinking about projects. “I don’t think anybody saw that coming,” said Wilber. …Jeff Bishop, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia, said the boom that sawmills are experiencing has a trickle-down effect on the rest of the industry.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Service New Brunswick is not saying what happened with a major property assessment review it did of the province’s six pulp and paper mills that had a hard completion deadline of last week. Even Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs is saying he doesn’t know the results. …Property assessments at the mills… were lowered $130.7 million by Service New Brunswick in 2013 because of an international  slump in pulp and paper markets. That saved the group $5.9 million per year in property tax. In 2019 Service New Brunswick announced it was “re-inspecting” the mills to see if markets for paper products had improved enough to undo some or all of the tax relief. …The pulp and paper mills [include] three owned by JD Irving Ltd., two by the AV Group and one by Twin Rivers.

After years of chronic uncertainty, Huron Central Railway’s short-line freight service between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury might finally derail. Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc., Huron Central’s Montreal-based parent company, announced this week that it will cease operations by the end of the year because it has not been able to secure $40 million in government funding to rehabilitate the 288-km line. …GWCI President Rick McLellan said that the formal process required to cease operations “cannot be delayed any longer.”  The railway…that services Algoma Steel, Domtar’s Espanola pulp and paper mill, and EACOM’s Nairn Centre sawmill, could see its final train run sometime in December. …the pulp and paper mill, which employs more than 500 people, said it cannot operate without the line. …EACOM Timber Corporation, which owns the Nairn Centre sawmill about 55 km southwest of Sudbury, said the company has no specific comment on this issue. 

We are nearing the 11th hour – again. …Huron Central Railway, through its parent company, has announced that it is beginning the wind-down process required by legislation and will cease operations between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury at year end. The same message was given two years ago. And a decade before that. The reoccurring theme: the rail operator needs infrastructure funding to complete repairs, maintenance and upgrade on the aging track to operate safely and efficiently. It’s prepared to come to the table with its pocketbook, but can’t do it alone. …The railway is important to Northern Ontario’s industries including Sault Ste. Marie’s Algoma Steel and Espanola’s Domtar. It keeps the companies competitive, ships its goods to market and its raw materials and supplies to the plants. Keeping Algoma Steel and Domtar competitive creates and keeps jobs in our Northern communities, albeit direct jobs or indirect jobs.

SYDNEY, Nova Scotia — A pre-trial conference has been set for the largest leaseholder of Crown land in Eastern Nova Scotia that is charged with violating the Wildlife Habitat and Watercourse Protection Regulations. Port Hawkesbury Paper, located in Point Tupper, is charged… with failing to leave 10 living or partially living trees for each hectare cut; failing to leave at least one clump of no fewer than 30 trees for each eight hectares cuts; and failing to ensure clumps of trees were situated at least 20 metres from the edge of the forest stand being cut. The company, which manages over 58 per cent of forested land in the region, previously entered not guilty pleas to the charges and was assigned a provincial court trial date of Jan. 18-20. …The pre-trial is now set for Oct. 6.

Northern Pulp’s laid off employees may get paid severance after all. A proposal by parent company Paper Excellence to loan the owner of the Pictou County pulp mill would also see salary continuation payments resume to non-unionized employees and benefits continue for retirees. Paper Excellence is offering a $6.2 million loan to its subsidiary… Critically, it is not demanding the loan be prioritized above Northern Pulp’s debts to the provincial government in the ongoing creditor protection proceedings. “The province wanted Northern Pulp to do the right thing and pay its employees and retirees what they are owed,” reads a written statement issued Wednesday by the Department of Lands and Forestry. …The province opposed allowing the loan to go ahead, which would have forced Northern Pulp into bankruptcy. Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick sided with Paper Excellence, allowing $15 million of the loan to go through immediately to keep Northern Pulp functioning as a company until the end of this year. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access to this article may require a subscription]

Greg Rickford

The ribbon was officially cut on the Kenora Forest Products Action Centre on Matheson Street to help laid-off forestry workers in the area Thursday. The KFP Action Centre, officially opened its doors on Sept. 3. Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford was on hand to announce $330,280 in funding from Queen’s Park to operate the centre. The space is meant to provide supports for the more than 100 KFP workers that were laid off due to the closure of the mill on Lakeview Drive in September 2019. The centre will connect unionized and non-unionized forestry workers with local job and training opportunities as well as counselling services to help people re-join the workforce. The funding agreement for the action centre runs until May 2021 and will be run by a labour adjustment committee, chaired by Kenora city councillor Andrew Poirier.

Former Sault Ste. Marie Mayor and Member of Parliament Steve Butland has been through this whole song and dance before. Genessee & Wyoming Inc. has announced plans to wind down operations on the Huron Central Railway (HCR) by year’s end if the federal and provincial governments can’t make good on a $40-million relief package. Butland… says there’s still some optimism that a deal can be reached – but that optimism could easily give way to “extreme pessimism” as the end of the line draws near. …Butland is now calling on both Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan and Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano to sit down with the HCR task force – together – and make one final push to hammer out a deal. …If this whole storyline sounds vaguely familiar, that’s probably because of previous dealings between Genessee & Wyoming and both levels of government. 

KENORA, Ontario — Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford is still hopeful there will be a restart at Kenora Forest Products. “I won’t mince my words. I hope that something will come of Kenora Forest Products. It’s a hot asset. It’s sitting there waiting to be turned on and filled with workers,” he said. At this point, the property is in the hands of bankruptcy trustees. Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford says the province is taking steps to try and improve conditions for the forest sector. “The forest strategy that Minister (John) Yakabuski just rolled out is a good opportunity for responsible resource development, particularly for forests, open up a little bit more fibre in each basket,” he added. The new forestry strategy was announced last month.

Jill Graham-Scanlan

Sawmill owner Robin Wilber (“McNeil could salvage forestry legacy by reviving Northern Pulp,” Aug. 29) got a number of essential points backward in his recent opinion piece calling for a revival of Northern Pulp.  In hopes of setting the record straight, I would like to address five key errors. 1. The “Government Changed the Goalposts” argument: Let’s be clear, it was Northern Pulp that moved the goalposts, not the government.  …2. The “Effluent won’t Hurt the Strait” argument: …In two rounds of environmental assessment, Northern Pulp has not demonstrated that the new ETF would remove these toxins before effluent would enter the Strait.  3. The “88 Other Mills” argument: This argument is smoke and mirrors. Northern Pulp is one of only 20-30 bleached kraft mills in Canada. Effluent from bleached kraft pulp mills is listed as a toxic substance by Environment Canada. …5. Wilber claims Northern Pulp did not know what to do to pass an environmental assessment because the government was not clear. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]

The Ontario government is investing $330,280 to help laid-off forestry workers in Kenora get the training and supports they need to quickly rejoin the workforce. Today, a new action centre opened in Kenora to provide services and supports to help about 122 workers that were impacted by the closure of Kenora Forest Products (KFP). Staff from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, Unifor Local 324 and the City of Kenora have worked closely together to get the centre up and running. The KFP Action Centre will be run by a Labour Adjustment Committee on behalf of the City of Kenora. “In times of economic change, our government is standing with workers and families in Kenora,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. “By investing in employment services and training programs, we are helping workers and job seekers prepare for new career opportunities.”

After more than years of chronic uncertainty, Huron Central Railway’s short-line freight service between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury might finally derail. …The railway, which employs more than 40 people and services Algoma Steel, Domtar’s Espanola pulp and paper mill, and EACOM’s Nairn Centre sawmill, could see its final train run sometime in December. …Sault Ste. Marie’s Joe Fratesi… believes that no rail line will “spell disaster” for Domtar, the Town of Espanola and Nairn Centre. The pulp and paper mill, which employs more than 500 people, said it cannot operate without the line. …EACOM Timber Corporation, which owns the Nairn Centre sawmill about 55 km southwest of Sudbury, said the company has no specific comment on this issue. …If the federal and provincial governments have something to offer the company by year end, then GWCI said it is prepared to return to the table.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford is cautiously optimistic that the Kenora Forest Products Mill will re-open. He says with the high price of lumber, the facility can get going almost immediately. “We’re in a good place to cut good board foot and the forest strategy that Minister Yakabuski just rolled out is a good opportunity for responsible resource development. The Mill is currently in receivership, but Rickford won’t say if or when a sale of KFP is going to be finalized. Rickford adds that before the facility can re-open, some enhancements have to be made.

THUNDER BAY — Resolute Forest Products says its Thunder Bay sawmill has passed a significant milestone. The mill has now processed more than four billion board feet of construction-grade lumber. First opened in 2003 by Abitibi-Consolidated, the mill is located on Fort William First Nation land, and employs many members of the community. It was the first mill in Canada to work under regulations created by the federal First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act, which facilitates industrial development with First Nations on their land. In 2018, Resolute invested $11 million in the facility to modernize the planer line and optimize its regional sawmill operations. …Resolute President and CEO Yves Laflamme said the employees can take pride in producing “a cost-effective, energy-efficient, high-quality building material from an abundant, renewable resource.”

Montreal’s Genesee & Wyoming Canada announced that its northeastern Ontario short-line carrier, Huron Central Railway, will cease operations by the end of this year. …The railway employs 43 and services Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Domtar’s pulp and paper plant in Espanola and EACOM’s sawmill operation in Nairn Centre. The company is waiting on Ottawa and Queen’s Park to put together a $40-million package for track maintenance and safety upgrades to the 288-kilometre line. The threat of closure by Genesee & Wyoming has been an ongoing and repeatedly chronic issue since 2009. …Genesee & Wyoming Canada president Rick McLellan… “We had hoped to come to an agreement with the federal and provincial governments on our proposal to collectively invest in the necessary rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure.” …The company makes the point in its news release that without a railway, steel and forest products will likely migrate to trucks.

KRNORA, Ontario — Changes to softwood tariffs between the United States and Canada could help alleviate the Canada’s lumber shortage. …These tariffs played a large role in Kenora Forest Product’s layoffs last September, as they currently add an additional 24 per cent of taxes onto the lumber’s cost. …Earlier this week, the World Trade Organization found the American claims unfounded, with over 40 claims not substantiated. WTO ruled that the duties are inconsistent, and the U.S. now has 60 days to appeal the decision. …Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, John Yakabuski… “By ruling strongly in our favour, the WTO has reaffirmed our position that U.S. duties on our lumber are unjustified.” To date, Canadian lumber exporters have paid over $3.9 billion in duties to the U.S.