MONTREAL — Canadian National envisions the day when its main line to the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, will host 50 trains per day. “Our capacity right now on that line is about 25 trains a day,” CN CEO Tracy Robinson said. …The container terminal at Rupert can currently handle 1.6 million TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent units, but by the end of next year will be able to accommodate 1.8 million after an expansion project is completed. …Construction is under way on the Ridley Island Export Logistics Project at Prince Rupert. The project, which gained final environmental approval in March, will include large-scale bulk and breakbulk transload facilities, an intermodal rail yard, and a container storage yard. The facility will transload plastic pellets, cereal grains, specialty crops, lumber, and pulp directly from rail into containers for export. The first phase of the project will create 400,000 TEUs of export capacity.
VANCOUVER, BC — Conifex Timber announced that it has made the difficult decision to take unscheduled downtime for four weeks at its Mackenzie, BC sawmill commencing June 5, 2023. It is anticipated that the unscheduled downtime will impact production capacity by approximately 16 million board feet. The downtime is necessitated by the low water levels forecasted in the Williston Reservoir negatively impacting Conifex’s ability to safely and efficiently utilize its reservoir assets and reduced demand for lumber products amid challenging economic conditions. Conifex intends to utilize the production downtime to complete critical maintenance activities at its sawmill. “We regret the impact this may have on our employees, their families, and the community,” said Ken Shields, CEO. …Conifex’s power plant operation will remain unaffected.
Canfor Corporation and Canfor Pulp Products Inc. jointly announce the release of the 
Wildfires burning across western Canada have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and have prompted some oil and gas companies to curb production as blazes approach pipelines. The fires have burned about 478,000 hectares, or 1,800 square miles, across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan as of Monday — 10 times the average area burned for this time of year, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. The fires have had a notable impact on the region’s oil industry, as some drillers were forced to halt a small percentage of production in a precautionary measure due to shifting fire conditions. This week, benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices tightened to multi-month highs over concerns about the blazes. Nearly 2.7 million barrels of daily oil sands production in Alberta is in “very high” or “extreme” wildfire danger zones, according to Rystad Energy, an energy consulting firm.
The Annual GBM is approaching, and we are happy to announce that this September 7th to 9th, we will invite international buyers and specifiers to meet our Canadian suppliers in Whistler, to celebrate our 20th Anniversary! As most of the world is back to traveling safely, we expect many new Buyers this year, and with the help of our overseas staff, the continued assistance of the federal International Trade Commissioner Service and the provincial Trade & Investment Representatives abroad, we expect a good showing from across the globe. As usual, we can’t just do one thing at a time, so along with the GBM Trade Event, we will host BC Wood’s AGM, deliver WoodTALKS at the GBM – this year featuring the Mass & Heavy Timber Symposium – and the Building Connections program. All these activities are designed to expand our Canadian wood products industry’s international business opportunities.
I worked for Alberta Wildfire for seven years as a lookout observer. …More impressive than the rate of spread of the wildfires was the speed at which Alberta’s firefighting response system was triggered into action. The tower to my east reported the locations of the fires to the district’s duty officer. A radio dispatcher answered and dispatched firefighting crews. …Within minutes, the wildfire was confirmed. The radio erupted with voices. I watched tankers hit the flames with red clay retardant to box the fire in. Multiple crews landed to work the fire from the ground. As a rookie lookout, I was in awe. …A series of government cutbacks and defunding, however, has seriously damaged Alberta Wildfire’s ability to prevent and respond to wildfires. The NDP cut $15-million from the budget in 2016. Three years later, the United Conservative Party (UCP)… slashed the Rappel Attack Program and decommissioned 26 fire towers.
VICTORIA – The Forest Practices Board will audit forestry activities on forest licences A77899 and A77900 held by the numbered company 1175401BC Ltd. on Texada Island. The audit will take place during the week of May 29, 2023. Texada Island is within the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District and the territories of the Shishalh, Tla’amin and Snaw’Naw’As Nations. Auditors will examine whether timber harvesting, roads, bridges, silviculture, wildfire protection and associated planning carried out between June 2021 and June 2023 met the requirements of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Wildfire Act. Once the audit is complete, a report will be prepared. Any party that may be adversely affected by the audit findings will have a chance to respond. The board’s final report and recommendations will be released to the public and government.
As air quality due to wildfire smoke remains poor in parts of Western Canada, health experts are advising people to stay inside as much as possible. But they say if you need to be outside, wear a mask. Calgary respirologist Dr. Alex Chee says N95 masks do the best job of filtering out smoke particles. But if people only have surgical masks, he says that’s better than nothing. Chee says wildfire smoke can cause both lung and heart problems. …There are things people can use to reduce the smoke’s effect, says Dr. Anne Hicks, a pediatric respirologist and assistant professor at the University of Alberta. “Because of the pandemic, a lot of people have added HEPA filtration or MERV filtration to their businesses, which means we have more safe places to be indoors.”
In this edition of Health and Safety Enews, learn more about engaging workers in health and safety. Ensuring your workers are represented and engaged contributes to a healthier and safer workplace. Have a conversation about safety with your team, build on their input, and make sure they feel heard.
A veteran Alberta wildland firefighter is in the hospital after suffering a serious injury while battling the wildfire in his home community. On May 5, the wildfire hit East Prairie Metis Settlement quickly, as fires broke out across the province. Within minutes, residents were fleeing for safety — relatives came to Frankie Payou and Melodie Robinson’s home to warn them it was time to evacuate. …With 14 years of firefighting under his belt, Payou fire-proofed the family’s home, then started to do the same for others. He was gone not even 15 minutes when his own home caught fire, said Jessica Supernault, a relative of Robinson’s. His mother’s house also caught fire and burned. …On May 14, Robinson, who was staying at a hotel with her children, received a call that Payou was being transported to the hospital after a tree fell on his head, leaving him unconscious./cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/CV2GAIQGOZJF5MQ36KLPDIYAFE.jpg)
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/NCXYIIBYO5IL3JOUOR6YLMXEQU.JPG)
