maybe Pat should look in at himself he says the govt will go after cost. This is just another cost that will be put on the backs of taxpayers. With the liberals we will just keep paying

So it's a fact that you would rather have the government not do anything, not spend any money on addressing an environmental hazard and not send anyone the bill?

You sound bitter about something, don't hold back... You don't like the people of Mackenzie maybe?

If the provincial government has to go after Worthington over this farce,I can almost guarantee the taxpayers in B.C. WILL be paying any costs involved.
And inspite of what Pat Bell says,had the government been paying attention to this deal at the time it took place,they might have seen the flags.
They were in so much of a hurry to be seen as heros to the town of Mackenzie that they obviously DID drop the ball!
And Pat Bell should have been all over this deal right from the start.
He too dropped the ball.
Does he expect us to believe the provincial government had absolutely no input on this deal?
Sure Pat...sure.

Meanwhile, apparently the "owner" of Worthington Industries isn't the owner after all... but does have a shifty past. It keeps getting better and better! Kudos to the gov though for stepping in.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/From+archives+Point+Mackenzie+mill+says+sure+owns/1224390/story.html

Well if the government wasn't involved how come there was a daily press release leading up to the purchase with Bell proclaiming involvement in the process and how great this will be for Mackenzie ?

Exactly lunarguy!
This government (and Pat Bell) will keep the stinky stuff off themselves at any cost!
They screwed up, so why don't they just admit that instead of making themselves look stupid?

I am curious:
Was not Dan White and company approved to buy the property by the accounting firm of PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers)??

I seem to remember that there was supposed to be another bid for the place but PWC recommended to the courts that Worthington be sold the property. (But I could be wrong about that)

Shouldn't we all be asking PWC what their reasons were for approving/ recommending the sale in the first place?
Maybe PWC should be on the hook for all the problems and they can go after Worthington for costs?
Sure makes you wonder how good PWC is as an accounting firm or is Worthington that good of a con artist?

I am glad that the environmental aspect is being looked after but the company needs to be held accountable not the taxpayers. Maybe it shluld be siezed & resold?
I see the board of directors are now one guy listed in Slovenia listed as a friend & deal maker of the previous director. Probably no extradition treaty with Slovenia.

Could some of those chemicals be sold to another pulpmill. As far as reopening the pulpmill I don't think it will happen anytime soon. Just look at what is happening at the economey. The customers that that mill used to have are buying their pulp from other sources. One soulotion would be to let Canfor have the pulpmill with the understanding that the logs in that area can only go to the sawmills in Mackenzie.

Andyfreeze:"They screwed up, so why don't they just admit that instead of making themselves look stupid?"

I don't think they should take the blame for something they did not do. That, in my opinion, would be an even greater stupidity.

The effort to try to save a pulp mill in working condition for the sake of the community of Mackenzie is a worthy one. Of course there were going to be some obstacles and challenges but the same people who are having a hate-fest right now would be just as vocal if NO effort at all had been made.

Ask the people of Mackenzie if they are not supportive of just about any legal effort to save their jobs! I bet they are! And for their sake I hope things will work out as soon as possible.

Over and out.

And 6 monthes after this winter ends another winter will follow, and more millions to be spent warming it. Maybe the mill should be fired up this summer and the chemicals used. There is too much of them onsite to truck away I read.

Another glaring example of the incompetence and bordering on corrupt adjudication of the BC Supreme Court in its handling of corporate bankruptcy proceedings. In the 360 networks case they allowed the company to pay cash in the hundreds of millions to make not one , but two acquisitions of other bankrupt telecoms, money that could have kept value for shareholders in the company as a going concern, and then after the reorganization they awarded the management 17% of the new equity in the company with the remainder going to JPM Chase Manhattan for about 3-cents on the dollar in secured debt for the cost of the networks assets.

Debt free and a private company 360-networks is a predator to all the companies that didn't get the BC Supreme Court bankruptcy advantage. I find it hard to see how they justify their conclusions unless everything isn't all done in the court room.

Why is the BC Supreme Court empowered to make these deals, and where do they get their qualifications and guidelines that ensure stakeholder fairness? I think they are in far over their heads in what they are qualified to be doing and I don't think they have any oversight as to what or how they are operating....

Sure Pat Bell is to blame for this fiasco, but his spreading the blame also makes sense considering Pat Bell can't do this kind of thing alone, and really... Pat's just a singing cheerleader anyways for Gordon Campbell and their corporate (de-regulation) friends. I think they all wear it, but most importantly I think I agree with Pat when he says the BC Supreme Court is going rouge and unaccountable for the implications of their actions.

Diplomat I agree with you to a point.
But there is such a thing as due diligence, and it is obvious it wasn't done or it wasn't done very well by ALL concerned.
And that includes Pat Bell and his ministry and in fact,the B.C.government itself.
In deals the size of this one with so much at stake,I would have thought they would be all over this making sure all was above board.
This COULD have been avoided had everyone done their homework.
But in all fairness,look at how many times Prince Rupert got screwed over the mess with the Skeena mill there.
Which is all the more reason for the government to be paying attention!
And hey...Pat Bell is a big boy...he can take the heat.
That's what he gets paid for!

The main question we have to answer is, " Was this an error of omission or commission?" In any event it shows the lack of over-site and responsibility of the BC Liberals. I would also like to see the money trail in the purchase of this mill. It would be interesting to see where it came from and where it went.

Now lets see here. If the NDP were in at the time....of course the province would be to blame. Shoes on the other foot Bell give your head a shake and listen to the bells toll.

Obviously there are some hazardous materials involved with a pulp mill in BC. If so I would hope that our government or any government in Canada would be aware of such hazards and govern accordingly. Thank God cause no one else was over-seeing this mess that this pulp mill was not a Nuclear reactor that was for sale cause the bottom fell out of the Nuclear reactor business. We can all be thankfull that Mr Bell is only responsible for trees in our province and not plutonium.

Fifty four years I have lived in this beautiful province of ours and ever since I could walk,talk and have the occasional thought,I have seen that no matter what party was in POWER they all end up with an arm long list of screw-ups,screw-overs and just general screwiness!
If anybody is to be blamed for all of the above it should be WE the VOTERS cuz we keep putting these screw-ups back in office!
I understand that it is a lot easier to BICTH about it than actually DO something about it,and BITCHING ABOUT IT is on the very top of the list of things we most like to do-but nothing is going to change until somebody gets up off of their lazy arse and actually DOES SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
Think about it -YOU could actually make a difference!

Thanks, had to get that off my chest. Good night.

"the BC Supreme Court is going rouge and unaccountable for the implications of their actions."

Whats "rouge" got to do with anything here?