That's because during the election ploy (lies), Bell was bragging how he opened up a shift in MacKenzie but didn't say they were shutting down Rustad's allthough most people knew it.

WOW what else can you say
This is a real blow to a couple small towns & PG as well

Who knew they were shutting down Rustad before yesterday? If most people knew about the shutdown why didn't the NDP up this issue during the election? What about the other Canfor mills that are shut in the south. Did the government know about those as well? I think someone is still bitter about the third consecutive NDP loss and just wants to blame everything on the Liberals.

UMMMMM.. the government really has sweet $#&@ all to do with how Canfor chooses to run its operations. Pat Bell did not OPEN the Mackenzie mill, and he by no means is closing the Rustad mill.

If you looking to blame someone. Blame the very poor USA policies and corruption that brought their economy to its knees and then the rest of us with them. I has nothing to do with BC policies.

the mackenzie mill going to one shift is definatly an election ploy tell me how much economic sense is one shift. costs in a mills operation are reduced by the number of shifts its a common lumber manufacturing fact.now tell me how one shift in mackenzie can compete with 3 shifts in other operations ????well they cant so why did mackenzie get one shift well if you lower the stumpage (wich has got the attention of usa producers cause your now subsidising )support the liberals in their election you get certain concessions.not to mention the disabled pulp operation were paying millions to keep as tax payers. i dont blame anyone for the economic meltdown but to say the industry is not getting abused by bad political decisions is sadly overlooked.i feel for the people who put their lives into the curtailed operations

perhaps if someone wants to take the credit for opening a mill than perhaps they should also take the blame for shutting one down. But I agree with Free Enterprize. But more to blame than the US government is the banks whose greed put us into this position.

600 sawmill workers lose jobs in Prince George, Vavenby and Radium. 60 sawmill workers get a job in Mackenzie. Not a political move on Canfors' part to get Pat Bell reelected?. My God, you Liberals are gullible.

I agree acrider54!
Something stinks!
So nobody including Pat Bell knew this was coming when they announced a shift at the mill in Mackenzie?
Sure...pssst...wanna buy a bridge?
Pretty safe to say the shift in Mackenzie was an election ploy to save Pat Bell's politcal neck!
So will that disappear as well?

Bad news I hear there is also going to be one more sawmill as well as a pulp mill shutting down.Good thing the timber giants prior to the election said I quote ( The Closers and downturn is not the Goverments fault> What a pile of crap.You Liberals are gullible.

If everybody knew this all along (including the NDP) why was it not brought up by the NDP during the recent election campaign?

Here is why: The NDP was too busy concentrating 100% on personal attacks aimed at the premier.

Has anyone thought about the quality of the fibre in the mackenzie area? Or the three pulp mills in the Prince George area that require this fibre supply? Or what about the costs of trucking that quality of fibre to a mill? There is so much more, cost and profit wise, to consider than just politics. Bell is "small potatoes" when you look at the big picture. Also, the closures are indefinite which means that there is always the possibility that when the economy improves so does the likelihood of reopening these mills. Unfortunately, the US made some very poor banking decisions which has affected every country and driven us into this horrible economic state.

At this time I am still employed, but my partner is not. We have planned for the worst and are setting aside what we can to try to ensure we are able to weather the storm. Unfortunately my parents are dependent on the forestry industry and they are not doing so well - so my thoughts are with all of those that are affected by these shut downs.

Happy Friday to everyone and enjoy the weekend!!

Has anyone thought about the quality of the fibre in the mackenzie area? Or the three pulp mills in the Prince George area that require this fibre supply? Or what about the costs of trucking that quality of fibre to a mill? There is so much more, cost and profit wise, to consider than just politics. Bell is "small potatoes" when you look at the big picture. Also, the closures are indefinite which means that there is always the possibility that when the economy improves so does the likelihood of reopening these mills. Unfortunately, the US made some very poor banking decisions which has affected every country and driven us into this horrible economic state.

At this time I am still employed, but my partner is not. We have planned for the worst and are setting aside what we can to try to ensure we are able to weather the storm. Unfortunately my parents are dependent on the forestry industry and they are not doing so well - so my thoughts are with all of those that are affected by these shut downs.

Happy Friday to everyone and enjoy the weekend!!

CheGie- ask yourself if it makes sense to close a PG sawmill in order to provide chips to a PG pulpmill from Mackenzie. Try and and provide logical arguments, if you please.

The imminent closure of Rustads has been rumoured for a few weeks now. I am sad to hear that it is now a certainty.
An important question is; how will Canfor make up the loss of wood chips from Rustads, or will they? Another ominous rumour I have heard is the potential for shutting down one of the three pulp mills in P.G. Tough times ahead.
metalman.

No one outside of the executive which means about 5 or 6 people and the Board of Directors for Canfor knows about these decisions until the day they go public. Confor has no obligation to clear strategic decisions with Pat Bell or anyone else, they are trying to keep the company alive.

In the longer term the AAC in the PG region is going no where but down. Mackenzie will be alot firmer. Its an unfortunate reality.

Metalman is right. A pulp mill would be a way bigger issue for PG.

Has anyone thought about the quality of the fibre in the mackenzie area? Or the three pulp mills in the Prince George area that require this fibre supply? Or what about the costs of trucking that quality of fibre to a mill? There is so much more, cost and profit wise, to consider than just politics. Bell is "small potatoes" when you look at the big picture. Also, the closures are indefinite which means that there is always the possibility that when the economy improves so does the likelihood of reopening these mills. Unfortunately, the US made some very poor banking decisions which has affected every country and driven us into this horrible economic state.

At this time I am still employed, but my partner is not. We have planned for the worst and are setting aside what we can to try to ensure we are able to weather the storm. Unfortunately my parents are dependent on the forestry industry and they are not doing so well - so my thoughts are with all of those that are affected by these shut downs.

Happy Friday to everyone and enjoy the weekend!!

We are all in trouble, but the "LITTLE GUY" didn't cause this economic down turn!

When will it end??? When we put all the thieves in prison, pretty simple!!

No longer should the "LITTLE GUY" take the burden from the shoulders of these losers. They have raped us for ever, and it is time we stand up as a people, and make it RIGHT!!

I'm in, are you??? These idiots are making millions of dollars personally, as the company that they are the CEO of are going broke!! HELLO, is anybody at the switch!!!

We are in an economic melt down, we are all in trouble!! Mark my words!!

A fine example of when a corporation gets too big and keeps the same business model. The check engine light has been on for a long time and now the engine is starting to give up. Take this patient off life support, burn the body and let the smaller profitable companies rise out of the ashes!

The US economy has shrunk by another five percent in the first quarter of this year, so there is more bad news to come before it gets better.

And yes, Pat Bell is trying hard but he is not controlling the US economy or the economy of B.C. or the global economy. They are in a virtual free fall.

AIG, where all the trouble started, is not a bank. It is an insurance agency or group. It insured mortgages and loans issued by US banks. And it went overboard selling guaranteed insurance on hundreds of billions of A-rated mortgage certificates and derivatives which didn't merit more than an F double minus rating.

We all got the dirty end of the stick.

taxi - in this case, the CEO of Canfor isn't making millions, he's actually not getting a salary at all. Since April last year, I believe, he's been paid in Canfor stock. Which ain't worth much nowadays.

Just think. If companies had kept their capacity lower in the first place many decades ago and slowly diversified their market to other parts of the world possibly making other products from the fibre, then Prince George would not have had the boom of the 1960s and 1970s with wild expansion and the following drop in growth, with an eventual flat line and even a downtorun in population growth.

It could have been more of a "steady as she goes" growth.

Now think on it. In a private enterprise world of lessay faire, how could that have been prevented? Feds, province, municipal and regional governments ... no one it seems. Possibly the MoE with their AAC tool and adding into that better teeth into what the fibre could be used for and the federal and provincial ministries responsible for trade providing better services to industry in trade relations with other countries as well as providing better research dollars in promoting the diversification of products.

We have been, and will continue to see all those latter activities as a reactive measure rather than a proactive measure.

We can still learn a lot in how to make industry and the different levels of government work together towards the same end of remaining a productive and viable company, industry, region, and country.

This is going to be a big blow to Prince George.

Can you imagine what a significant blow it will be to Vavenby and Radium ?

I think the one shift opening in MacKenzie was negotiated simply as a measure of confidence and support, suicide prevention if you want to call it that.

If you saw the movie, Saving Private Ryan, you'll understand. I don't think it had one bit to do with economics, save the fact that "How do we accomplish this and not lose our shirts over it ?"

Go to google finance and enter CFP... More news releases.

it just gets worse for the average joe the companies can hold people hostage while the fed an prov govts just give away or resourses. i can't beleive people in the north are so gullible and let the fed amd prov govts get away with helping their friends The fed govt gave us a tax credit on home renos so their friends who support them own home depot and reno depot. And the Liberal govt makes all their Hyway signs other signs out wood produced in the US by companies that has taken Liberal govt to court and sued them under the softwood lumber agreement this company is call Stimson lumber who used our logs shipped to the US. then Pat Bell talks about wood first policy in BC but look at the new school at Dutch Park school which is being built out of steel only when are you people going to wake up and hold our govt responsible it to late we have another 4 yrs of this crap being shoved wher the sun don't shine Thanks again for voting LIberal you will get what you deserve lets just put the Province up for sale to the highest bidder

Canfors CEO gets a salary. However he didnts take a raise the last time around.

Rustads was lined up for closure for the last 10 years. It is all a matter of timing, and money.

Most of us are not privy to the inner workings of these Corporations, however you can rest assured that there is some sort of connection between the one shift being added at Mackenzie and the closure of Rustads. One happened before the election and the other after.

We enjoyed and made money on the boom in the US Housing market, which was generated by people who shouldnt have been able to get a mortgage, getting one and building. We are now going to have to live with the bust.

Such is life.

My understanding is that the MacKenzie reopening has more to do with the terms and conditions of CANFOR's timber cutting license in the MacKenzie area.
Sort of a use it or loose it clause.

I think Canfor has just weighed in on where they think the economy is going over the next year.

California and other States are slashing budgets. BC is asking its employees to be nice and stay home on Fridays and are slashing everywhere.

Retail and government sectors, including health care and education, are the next groups in the downturn scopes. Commerical real estate market is set to crash and ....

Depending on your crystal ball things can look right down and it appears CANFOR is going with the down.

My guess is a CANFOR PG pulp mill will be next.

But its summer and the bugs are cutting into my tanning.

Frank

This has been a common rumor for a while now... the other one is that we lose a pulp mill (already short on chips)... lets hope that doesn't happen... but where do we get the chips to replace Rustads from... 30-40 loads of chips a day is not an easy resource to replace.

Same place the UNBC new syngas plant will be getting theirs from.

Herbster - Out of curiousity do you work at one of the sawmills or have an understanding of the needs of a pulp mill operation?? It just seems that a lot of the comments and arguments here are not giving consideration to many other factors. Your arguments are isolated to "political moves" but aren't giving consideration to the US housing market or the horrible economic state we are in. In addition, "indefinite" does not mean that the Rustad mill will be closed for good...there is a great possibility that the economy will turn around and we will see the mill up and running again. Given that my family hauls to Rustad, it would be really nice to see them back at work.
The forestry industry is being hit really, really hard and this community is very dependent on it. It would be great if we could all look outside the box and give consideration to other factors contributing to these shutdowns and start-ups. Also, doesn't anyone think that it might be nice for the people in MacKenzie that have been without work for so long and struggling to get a chance to recover?? I am happy for those in MacKenzie and my thoughts are with those that are negatively affected by the shutdowns that are upon us now.

Heres a thought! The Canfor employyes in Mackenzie had to sign a really sh#### deal in order to go back to work. We were wondering how Canfor was going to implement this deal for the rest of the the Interior. Could be Canfors way of getting everyone to sign that sh###* contract. Just a thought!!!

It is Canfor's present announced after the election. The last straw has been the Canadian Dollar starting going up from April.

The Canadian Dollar is now fluctuating with the price of oil. Oil going up, CDN Dollar going up and the rest of economy heading downhill. It seems the federal government has lost its control over the currency. Has the government considered adopting another currency? US Dollar, Euro or even British Pound?

The Canuck dollar switched to a Petro dollar when the price of oil went up high enough to make the Tar Sands a viable operation.

The currencies you list are not based on the value of oil.

The US currency is based more and more on the smoke and mirrors of thier military threat which the rest of the world is gullible enough to accept.

The Euro on the manufacturing capacity of the countries which were the founding members of the EU.

The British Pound ...... somewhere between the EU reason and USA reason.