I wouldn't expect any value added process taking place in Canada. Pulp for Asia will likely be the extent of it? Soon foreign governments will own all our local resource corporations....

any buyers for our idled local sawmill?

Yeah, Winton Global too. Maybe someone will buy it too & start it up.

I side with Eagleones' opinion on this otherwise good news. At least the local economy will benefit, and people will be working.
metalman.

Well, we are suppose to be a first world nation, seems like no one want to invest or have the $, so if a foreign country has the $, in a free democratic world, so be it.
Good luck Mackenzie!

Great news for Mackenzie,but as a company...Sinar Mas is a bit scary.
Hope it all works out.

At this point I am just hoping that our house prices come back to the point where I can sell my place and break even on it.

We complain that we pay too much taxes. We complain that corporations are not paying enough taxes. We complain about our health care is not good enough. We complain about our roads and potholes. We complain about our judicial system. We complain that corporations are laying off people. We complain that we do not own our resource extracting companies. We complain that post secondary education cost too much. We complain that our schools are being closed down. We complain that they don't teach anything in school. We complain that kids have no sense of responsibility. We complain that there is not enough money in social system. We complain about the price of gas. We complain about burning fossil fuel. We complain about the chemicals in our food. We complain about having to pay for camping. We complain about the cost of fishing liscences. we complain that our seniors are not getting enough pension.
We complain about the unions not doing anything for the membership. We complain about the city spending money on PAC, and the new cop shop. We complain about the cost of buying a new house. We complain about not getting enough for our house.

You pretty much can tell why we can not move forward, and fall into serving the special interest groups. Shouldn't we be taking responsibility for our own lives. Do you want to have your life run by the government or do you want to run your own life.

Excellent post, He spoke.

Thanks, every once in a while, I accidentally post something meaningful. not often so you got to read them all.

I agree. Very good, He spoke. Now how do we start to rectify the problem, and remove the 'cause' for all these complaints?

Seems to me the first step is for all of us to mind our own business, and let no one else make a business of minding it for us. Obviously, it's sorely in need of our attention.

But that pre-supposes, amongst other things, that we can.

To start with, for example, that we still have a fairly high degree of something called "private property rights". Do we? Or have they been greatly eroded already, and continue to be more so year after year?

Do we, for instance, have a zoning system that states specifically the ONLY things any of us CAN NOT do on a piece of 'our' property? And allows us to do anything else other than what is specifically prohibited on that particular land?

Or do we have one that only allows us TO DO a very limited number of specific things, and even then subject to a variety of highly variable imposed conditions, and prohibits us from doing everything else?

How do we take 'responsibility' for our actions when it's automatically assumed we are nearly ALL totally 'irresponsible' all the time? And have to be constantly monitored and regulated by those few, largely self-annointed, superior beings who "know" what's better for us than we could ever know ourselves?

And what is it that continually re-inforces this notion of "irresponsibility"?

Study it closely, and I believe you'll find it arises in a lack of incomes relative to what they SHOULD be able to access in goods and services through prices, (and taxes).

Often goods and services that are obviously over-abundant 'physically', but continually priced beyond our buying power 'financially'.

It is our quest to overcome this phenomenom that breeds the "irresponsibility" those 'self-annoited' elitists are so sure we need their services to control.

Not sure what He Spoke's point is. The things he talks about are legitimate complaints. To ignore them would be folly.,

We have a a health care system that costs millions if not billions to run, and could by streamlined to be more effective at a cheaper cost. It that too much to ask?? A family recently moved to Prince George from Alberta applied for Healthcare, and then went looking for a Docter. After a huge runaround they were basically told that there are no Doctors available. So we have a situation where we pay a monthly premimu for Health Care but cannot get a doctor. Is the Government collecting money under false pretenses. Should these people complain, or should they just go to the emergency ward when they need a doctor and keep their mouths shut.

We have another situation where a person could not get a knee operation in Prince George even though he lived here, but he was able to go to Vanderhoof and have the operation with the same Prince George Doctor.

In another instance a person could not get a Doctor in Prince George, however they were able to get one in Fraser Lake and they go there periodically for check-up.

Question. Have you ever seen a Policeman, Lawyer, Politician, Sports figure etc;etc; sitting in the emergency ward for three or four hours waiting for treatment. I kind of doubt it.

So I think that although our medical system works for some, it is not a perfect system for all. So I suggest that people keep complaining or the powers to be will think that you are happy with the present system.

This is just one take on the numerous things mentioned in He Spoke's post, and most of them could be fine tuned, however I dont have the time or the willpower to go through them all.

Have a nice day.

There is a hell of a lot more to running a pulp mill than just producing product.

A. You must produce a quality product to compete on the world market. If your sole customer is China then you might get away with a little bit inferior product.

B. Transportation to a Seaport. CN Rails rate from MacKenzie would of course be more expensive than from Pr George to Vancouver or Prince Rupert.

C. There are no facilities available in Prince Rupert to load breakbulk pulp in Prince Rupert, and it would be cost prohibitive to load containers,and therefore this product would have to go to Vancouver for loading into ships.

D. Cost of inbound chemicals for the pulp process is much more expensive that Prince George or Quesnel.

E. Rail car supply at present is probably OK, however if the market picks up you could run into a rail car shortage, which raises hell with your costs. Especially if you have to revert to some trucking.

So at the end of the day this MacKenzie pulp mill will have to produce woodpulp equal to or better than it can be produced in Prince George. Not bloody likely. The alternative is for the owners to pay a higher price for their pulp than they would by buying it on the open market. Why would they do that??

If it is just to ensure a good supply of product at a reasonable cost then they might get away with it. Who knows.

You can do a lot of things when the price of pulp is up, however when it drops (and drop it will) then you have serious problems.

Which I might add it why they shut down in the first place.

Have a nice day.

It's one thing to have a legitimate beef or complaint about something. But when people complain about everything and post negatively no matter what the story, it rings kind of hollow after a while.

Palopu, I figure the rail component is key for that pulp mill. They likely have more importance on their logistics than they do the employees of the mill itself. I feel the reason the mill closed in the first place was the rail car shortage they were experiencing after the government sold BC Rail, and CN diverted their BC Rail cars out east... the mill ran low on operating capital storing all their product in make shift storage tents and that I believe triggered the mills closure (a victim of the over leveraged take over spectacle of financially harvesting corporations by wall street guaranteeing the companies fate)... Sinar Mas will be no different IMO.

my 2 cents-

Sinar Mas will consume the pulp at their mills in Asia etc. ......they will not be selling the pulp.

This is huge as they can consume / use it at cost not market which equates to huge savings.

Rail rates and car supply to Vancouver is not a big issue....remember pulp is a global commodity so any reference to PG and Quesnel is mute.
This pulp will not compete with any pulp produced in PG or Quesnel in any way.
Pulp is produced across Canada and shipped via Vancouver with longer transit times and much higher freight rates than those ex Mackenzie. And again the pulp is not being sold it is being consumed at cost not market pricing.
Of note- Sinar Mas moves all of their pulp via containers not breakbulk.

Mackenzie Pulp got shut down for a couple of reasons The first was piss poor management The worst I've seen in my 30 years there. That is also the reason P&T went bankrupt. The second was Backroom deals between Canfor and Reciever to steal the mills fibre supply. A pulp mill without a fibre supply can not stay operating. Then the reciever sold us to a con man with no money, no pulp mill experince and no intention of running the mill. All this was done with the approval of the BC Supreme Court.
Rail car shortages or fibre supply or low pulp prices did not cause the mill to close Incompent management did.
Now with the pulp mill opening the sawmills in the area now have a cheap way of disposing of the chips and hog, The costs to produce lumber is cheaper and more sawmills can operate and employ more workers.
1800 people lost their jobs when Mackenzie shut down. With the opening of the pulp mill and all the industry associated with it. Loggers, sawmills, truckers, contractors that will be needed,12 to 1500 jobs should return to Mackenzie.
This is good news for Mackenzie, Prince George and the provincial gov't. Millions will be spent in the stores in Prince George and 100's of millions will be collected in taxes, stumpage fees and other services by the provincial gov't
This is good news and to those who can't see it Open your eyes

I think that all Mackenzie employees, both staff and rank and file, have to share the blame for the shutdown of Mackenzie.

On the other side they can share the credit for getting mill reopened.