Rally in Ft.St. James Today

Saturday, August 23, 2008 04:32 AM

Ft. St. James, B.C.- There is a major rally planned for Ft. St. James today, hot off the heals of the new owner taking possession of the Ft. St. James Saw mill.

The mill was one of the Pope and Talbot assets that was sold off. It was picked up by a new B.C. Company, Conifex , headed up by Ken Shields for $12.8 million dollars. All the details were wrapped up Thursday and the keys to the shop should have been handed over Friday.

Minister of Forests and Range, Pat Bell says the forest tenure has been signed over to Conifex and as far as he is concerned, it is now “full steam ahead.” That means Conifex can start logging and resume operations whenever it is ready to do so.

The mill in Ft. St. James has been idle since last fall, leaving 285 people without work.

When the sale was announced in early July, Conifex indicated it wanted to have the millup and running as soon as possible.

As for the rally. It is slated to get underway at Cottonwood Park in Ft. St. James at noon. Although the sawmill is being resurrected, the people in the community are still concerned about log production being linked to the communities where the logs are harvested. There is also a call for extended employment insurance benefits.

Anyone wanting to take part is welcome to hitch a ride on the free chartered bus. It will be leaving for Fort St. James at 9:30 this morning and will return to Prince George mid- afternoon.

People wishing to reserve a seat on the bus should call or leave a message for Julie Carew at (250) 564-6064.

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Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2008 04:32 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Havefaith on August 23 2008 9:07 AM

Keep up the good fight Fort St. James. The squeaky wheel always has a better chance of getting the grease. Keeping the preasure on is critical.

My hat goes off to Julie Carew and all the organizers and volunteers of this event. Everyone should get off their butts, sacrafice a couple of hours out of their lives and get out there to support these honorable volunteers fighting for your future.

No one ever made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do little.

Posted by: lost it all on August 23 2008 10:44 AM

The Prince George Citizen reported today that MLA John Rustad would not attend the rally as he suspects it is sanctioned by NDP supporters. He was also quoted that Fort St. James does not need to worry that logs will leave the community as the high cost of fuel will deter forest companies to haul the wood the longer distances from point of harvest.

This kind of cowardly representation by our elected MLA is unacceptable. Also his solution of logs leaving the comunity is solved thru high fuel costs is unbelievable. After all the attention these problems have arisen of late in communities such as the Fort and Mackenzie a serious effort would be expected from our representative MLA, insread we get very cowardly excuses from MLA John Rustad.

Ben Miesner I will sign my name
Rick KLassen
Fort St. James

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 23 2008 12:27 PM

If Rustad actually believes that the high price of fuel will keep logs from leaving the community,he is dreaming.
That's not representation,that is passing the buck and kissing corporate ass!
Let's also keep in mind who did away with "mill it where you cut it" policy in the first place!
I am sure there will be plenty of NDP supporters at the rally,but what better time to go and state a Liberal position John?
Chicken!

Posted by: Robin Hood on August 24 2008 12:28 AM

High price of fuel?

Somebody should tell the two trucks hauling logs out of the Fort down Hwy 27 this afternoon.

Posted by: woodchipper on August 25 2008 3:14 PM

What a joke this MLA and this MP are for not coming to meet with the people who they are supposed to represent.

Claiming to be afraid of the NDP?
If Rustad, is afraid of the NDP then he is in the wrong line of work and should resign immediately.

How about hiding from the disasterous policies of a party and not having the guts to stand up for their constituents?

The fuel excuse is a farce as this is factored into the stumpage system which offsets the cost of moving the timber to the nearest appraisal point. Shutting down local mills allows ministry of forests to move the appraisal point.

We get less stumpage when timber is hauled farther so that corporations can haul it away from our communities and make more money doing so. The dummest of MLAs know this and therefore are knowingly allowing communities to be decimated so that corporations can take advantage of what is blamed to be caused by the softwood agreement. Corporations used both of these opportunities to give them advantages and to heck with the people.