And who says industry doesn't spend money to reduce emissions.

I only hope that none of the above mentioned subsidies are for a company that is refusing to pay municipal taxes. It would be ironic if taxpayers had to pick up the slack from the mill's refusal to pay taxes and then also spend our tax dollars on a subsidy for the mill.

This is just more tax payer dollars going to large corperations who will not be for the little guy in the end. You may as well have called it a bailout. It would be nice if the tax payers got a break but no, instead we get to look forward to the increase in the carbon tax and hst within a month of each other. Thank you again to the united states for starting something that our government jumped on in order to move more of the PEOPLES money over to the rich corporations.

"And who says industry doesn't spend money to reduce emissions."

Now that you bring that up, it is an interesting comment to dwell on.

If everything in the mills were up to standard and best practices efficiency, then no matter how much money they would be offered, there would be no projects to work on.

So, this actually shows that industry does not spend enough to reduce emissions.

The companies will find some way to use this money to buy more mills in th US. What a crock of crap 1 Billion for 24 companies and one 900 million for 190,000 laid off Canadians all acrooss Canada. They will make sure CEO'S get some big severance package and bonusess.

Catalyst Paper is one of the companies that are not paying their taxes in Campbell River.

Catalyst Paper is one of the companies that are not paying their taxes in Campbell River.

An end run around NAFTA?

These are all good points and the conclusion I have come to is that there is no end to what we the taxpayor are going to have to spend to keep our government's favorite corporate friends happy.

The other thing that bothers me is that when the auto bailouts occurred at least we ended up with something to show for our tax dollars..ownership.

I am not a socialist but at least we as shareholders might eventually gain by our investments into these international companies.

"The Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program will help pulp and paper companies located in Canada make investments that improve the energy efficiency and environmental performance of their facilities by providing a $0.16 per litre credit for black liquor produced by their mills between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2009.

The program is capped at $1 billion, and payments to Canadian industry will not exceed this total. Moreover, the funds must be spent over a three-year period on capital expenditures in pulp and paper mills that will improve energy efficiency and environmental performance.

A critical element of green transformation refers to the production of heat, power and fuels from renewable sources such as forest biomass. Black liquor is a biomass by-product of the chemical pulping process that has long been used by pulp producers to generate energy for their mills. Projects such as upgrades to cogeneration units, improvements to the energy efficiency of recovery boilers, more energy-efficient pulp and paper machinery and machinery to produce ethanol from forest biomass are examples of capital expenditures that may qualify under the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program. This initiative will help the pulp and paper sector further reduce its environmental footprint while moving closer to becoming a net source of green power.

The program will improve environmental performance for Canadian pulp and paper mills."

My opinion: This is the only way to attempt to level the international playing field a bit for the Canadian industry without provoking immediate howls and severe sanctions by our friends to the south.

Woodchipper wrote:-"The other thing that bothers me is that when the auto bailouts occurred at least we ended up with something to show for our tax dollars..ownership.

I am not a socialist but at least we as shareholders might eventually gain by our investments into these international companies."
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Doubtful. The only reason most people would invest in any company is in expectation of a 'profit' they will share in.

These large forest companies don't have a very good track record of 'profitability'.

Relative to their growth in Sales as they've increased in size there hasn't really been the expected rise in the RATIO of Profit that the "economies of scale" were supposed to enable.

So many of them that were fully integrated are now divesting, and telling us that they need to do so in order to focus on their "core business". Whatever that is. (It's actually attempting to do whatever is necessary to try to maintain their "credit" with their Bankers. Without that, they're dead. If you look at all the things GM has divested itself of in recent years, I suppose it's really not much different.)

It's a trend that's prevalent both in the USA, and in Canada. I don't think it will lead to any more success in boosting 'profits' long term than the previous trend to get larger and larger did.

The fundamental problem with ALL companies nowadays, autos, steel, forest products, retail, etc. is that there is no way for them to continually fully recover their "costs of production" expensed against SALES, let alone add on a profit, when OVERALL current INCOMES distributed to the consuming public nearly entirely through "employment" are progressively declining in ratio to those OVERALL "costs of production".

This modern phenomenon continually acts to "pinch off" profit far short of the potential for Sales (real demand for their products)except in times of continual "capital expansion".

But each increase in "capital expansion" exacerbates the problem, since every new plant constructed is that much more 'productive' per man-hour than the plant it replaces.

While that should be, and is, a positive thing from a "physical" standpoint, from an OVERALL "financial" one it simply increases the inability of the economy to be fully financially 'self-liquidating' as production moves through into consumption at the point of final retail sale. Increasing 'debt' to fund further "capital expansion", whether REALLY needed or not, is needed presently to bridge the "gap". It's a very tenuous "bridge" ~ much of this 'debt' will never be able to be repaid.

We will likely witness a continued thrashing about at the 'micro-economic' level, as Firms try to do what is really mathematically impossible for them to do under the current conventions of accounting.

Some will seem as if they've found the "answer", but for every seeming 'success' there'll be far, far more failures.

The ONLY answer, in the end, will be to do what we are currently, for some strange reason or other, collectively afraid to do.

Find a way to "augment" overall CONSUMER incomes earned from "employment" by 'crediting' each of us the difference between overall "Capital Appreciation" in the economy as a whole, (additions to plant and infrastructure, etc. which increase "efficiency"), and overall "Capital Depreciation", (which we already pay for in the price of everything we buy.)

Unless we change the way that prices are "made", to the Consumer, in a manner that enables profit and loss to accurately reflect genuine 'consumer demand', rather than as now, where that 'real demand' is all too often distorted by lack of consumer "effective demand" (ability to pay the price required), I'm afraid we're heading for eventual 'socialism'.

Which will really do nothing whatsoever to solve our problems, since 'socialism' is merely "monopoly State capitalism with continued control by Finance." it's not a change in "administration" that's needed, from 'private' to (supposedly) 'public', but rather a change in "policy". Without such a change there really is no hope for what we call genuine "free-enterprise".

The money is going to be spent in the steam & recovery plants and will reduce emissions,add capacity and upgrade the turbo generators so power can be sold to BC Hydro. Northwood Pulp has two Recovery boilers of which one is the original unit from the 60's and it will be getting substantial upgrades as it is being converted to a low odor unit. This will add steam production and decrease emissions which along with the turbo generator upgrades will add about 10 megawatts of power production that is badly needed by Hydro.There is no smoke and mirrors. Weather you like the pulp mills or not they are the economy of Prince George and almost everybody's job depends on there success. This is fantastic news for everybody.

pgmatt, is exactly right! although not knowing the details, primary industries are the ones that produce the products from the land that we all depend. The air in town today seems Glacier Fresh or maybe its my optimism that primary industry has been dealt a good hand and will continue to make profits and thus sustain this community, directly and in directly.

Too bad some money didn't go in the direction of Rustads, maybe they still would be open.

Yes, this is great news and I'm thrilled. It's about time the pulpmills got some help so they can compete with the US mills. The money cannot go to buying US mills. As it says in the news story, it has to go to environmental fixes for the mills. There are lots of checks & balances to make sure that happens.

The question is what do we get for our tax dollars that are injected into these corporations that have international goals and shareholder interests that are not the same as the taxpayors.

The slippery slope is that the stage is set for countries/provinces competing for the industries that make jobs.
How far does this go and where do we get the assurances that these operations stay operating and stay operating in Canada?
While the money is originally spent in Canada there is no way to restrict the profits being transferred to a better berry patch in another part of the world.

For the most part the black liquor subsidy is a progressive move. I just think that we deserve either ownership or at least the garantee that these pulpmills will remain committed to operating here in Canada rather than transferring the wealth to a competing country. I think we have a right to expect that.

Energy production wil be the main objective. Low odoring of the recovery at Northwood will allow them to steam more, but you can bet they'll still push the boiler to the permit limit. Also on the books is a new precipitator for PG's little hog boiler, so they can burn more, Giving more steam for generating electricity. So I wouldn't count on cleaner air. They also have hydro guys at the mill to find efficiencies to consume less electricity in the plants, allowing for more power export. This money will help the mills get more "bang for their (or should I say the taxpayers) buck. It should increase their viability and extend their lifespans. That means jobs. Makes more sense than giving bucks to US car companies, or buying billions in high ratio mortgages to help out our "solid" canadians banks. But, its still a subsidy. And Woodchippers right we should get ownership in exchange for all this spending. Instead, contrary to what Mr. Harper says, we'll get taxes!