VANCOUVER, BC – Unifor is warning of dire consequences for Mackenzie, B.C., as the Paper Excellence mill in the forestry town goes into indefinite curtailment. “The federal and provincial governments have failed forestry workers in Mackenzie and all across B.C.,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “This shutdown comes after a lengthy battle from both the workers and the owner to address fibre access issues and develop a sustainable plan for the province’s forestry sector. A forestry town like Mackenzie won’t survive if both governments don’t intervene immediately.” The mill will operate until June 30, and the 182 Unifor Local 1092 members will be kept on payroll through August 6. …Parent company Paper Excellence has taken extra steps to pay workers fairly, as it did when their Nova Scotia mill, Northern Pulp, was forced to close earlier this year.

VANCOUVER — Altus Engineered Products (AEP) has inked a new engineered wood supply deal with Taiga Building Products for all of its operating facilities across Canada. The national arrangement replaces last year’s regional supply arrangement for Eastern Canada. Officials at Altus stated they expect the new deal will lead to significant cost savings. In addition, AEP believes the guaranteed lead times and reorder and delivery elements provided by the Taiga supply arrangement will make a significant impact on project schedules. “Working with an experienced public company like Taiga, with operations across Canada and globally, allows AEP to execute its strategy to capitalize on economies of scale while maximizing efficiencies and price in our quest of becoming the building components supplier of choice,” said AEP CEO Dirk Maritz in a press release. “All of our current facilities across Canada will benefit from the certainty in supply and resulting cost savings.”

One Port Alberni business that did not let the coronavirus pandemic get in the way of progress was San Group. The forestry company, headquartered in Surrey, has numerous irons in the fire in Port Alberni, and bills needed to be paid, Kamal Sanghera said. In the past three months, San Group purchased and restarted a specialty sawmill (the former Chalwood Products mill on Hector Road), started installing state-of-the-art machinery at its remanufacturing site beside Paper Excellence paper mill, and continued construction of a second sawmill at the company-owned Coulson site. In the meantime, COVID-19 restrictions happened, landscaping thefts occurred twice and a fire destroyed part of a building at the reman plant. “We’re finding how to survive,” Sanghera said. We’re finding how to look out of the box.” …“San Group is creating a whole new way of looking at the industry,” former Port Alberni mayor Mike Ruttan said.

The B.C. government has delayed coastal log export reforms for a second time to deal with an industry slump made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson announced June 11 that a reduced maximum size for milled timber exports that was due to take effect July 1 is delayed until Sept. 30. The regulation will reduce the definition of a “sawn-wood product” or squared-off log for export from 43 cm to 30.5 cm, changing a rule that was implemented. Restriction on export of Western red cedar and cypress is also delayed to Sept. 30. That will require cedar and cypress harvested on Crown land in the B.C. Coast region to be “fully manufactured” to be eligible for export, unless the seller or exporter obtains an exemption and pays a “fee in lieu” of manufacture to the province. …“Delaying… provides B.C. forest companies with more time to prepare and adjust their business models to the upcoming regulatory changes.”

Lyn Hall

Paper Excellence Canada Mill in Mackenzie has announced a curtailment of over 250 employees, set to happen in the final week of June. …While not directly impacted, Prince George will be feeling effects simply because of proximity, says Mayor Lyn Hall. “So if there are 253 employes out in Mackenzie that are no longer employed that means that we have lost a great deal of our trading area,” explained Hall, speaking at the BC Resources Coalition Town Hall. “Those people will spend money in their own community obviously, but they also may spend money coming into Prince George on a weekend.,” he added. Prince George is also dealing with the aftermath of curtailments and closures of its own, with Canfor closing the Isle Pierre Sawmill on May 20th. …The municipality of Mackenzie has a population of approximately 3,700.

Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests… has released the following statement regarding the curtailment of the Paper Excellence mill in Mackenzie: I was saddened to learn Paper Excellence is curtailing its Mackenzie pulp mill operations. My heart goes out to the 253 directly impacted workers, their families and the entire Mackenzie community during this difficult time. Many in the community, including Mayor Joan Atkinson, have worked tirelessly to keep this operation running. It is my understanding that Paper Excellence has said the curtailment is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reduced fibre availability due to sawmill curtailments in the region. Our first priority is to support forest communities, workers and families, and we will be reaching out to UNIFOR and Paper Excellence to determine what supports are needed. All employees impacted by the closure of Paper Excellence’s Mackenzie pulp mill are eligible to access supports and services under our government’s $69-million forestry worker support fund. 

Paper Excellence Canada will be curtailing operations at its pulp mill in Mackenzie. The curtailment is expected to start in the last week June and will impact the mill’s 253 employees, a statement issued by the company on Thursday said. A small team of employees will continue to work on site at the mill to provide security and monitoring. “There is currently no restart plan for the site,” Paper Excellence Canada VP Graham Kissack said. …The closure of the mill has been driven by a combination of factors – lower global demand for pulp during the COVID-19 pandemic and shrinking supply of fibre. …”It’s just gotten to the point we can’t economically operate the mill.” …The Richmond-based company will continue to operate its pulp mills in Port Mellon and Skookumchuk, B.C. 

The B.C. government is taking additional action to help support people, communities and forest companies dealing with challenges from the COVID-19 crisis. Changes to the Manufactured Forest Products Regulation (MFPR) and the Coast-wide implementation of the variable fee-in-lieu of manufacture on log exports that were scheduled to come into force on July 1,2020, are now postponed until Sept. 30, 2020, and December 2020 respectively. Government remains committed to exploring opportunities to resolve long-standing fibre supply issues for smaller forest product manufacturing firms. Over the coming months, government will continue to engage with industry and stakeholders to address this issue. Globally, the forest industry has been hit particularly hard by the challenges associated with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the resulting market impacts. Delaying the MFPR and fee-in-lieu provides B.C. forest companies with more time to prepare for and adjust their business models to the upcoming regulatory changes.

Zoran Knezevic

British Columbia’s medical health officer had barely agreed to a plan to re-open the province after COVID-19 closures and the ships were already backed up at Port Alberni Port Authority’s terminals. … With the extended slowing down of the forestry industry on Vancouver Island, there aren’t too many log export ships scheduled to call in port. Because this industry tends to fluctuate, fewer ships are not a concern, PAPA president and CEO Zoran Knezevic said. … San Group, which recently opened a new sawmill, purchased a specialty sawmill in April and is building a remanufacturing plant in Port Alberni, has a vision to use container ships to move product. Owners Suki and Kamal Sanghera said in early June they want to be shipping value-added lumber by barge by the end of the summer.