"Oh, I'm so disaapointed" Here's some more tax for you.

Sad for the sawmill workers...

Hey Patty, getting a little concerned you may be flipping hamburgers at Wendy's , for minimum wage, here pretty soon???? That is if anyone patronizes it...

I guess the HST didnt save clear lake alot of money.

why does canfor own so much? what happened to all the independants/ gezz i go away for awhile and,,,

Canfor bought them up and then shut many of them down...Upper Fraser, NCP, Rustad...and there's probably more.

Mythoughts continued...

Parks Bros (Fort st james)
Riverbank (Fort st James)
Parmill (Forts st James)
Clear lake (PG)
Netherlands (leo creek/fsj/prince george)
Takla forest products..

Its about time this greedy corporation felt the pinch.. the nasty thing is employees are caught in the middle.

they are part owners in Winton Global too which is also shutdown.

Your right Northman...but take a look at who the major shareholders are with Canfor.
It says a lot.

That's just Jimmy getting richer.

Good one acrider54. Ya, boo hoo there Patty, make us all think that you really care, so that we forget all the B.S. you have been spewing since you were elected.

Last August was the worst month for mortgage foreclosures in the US. Another estimated one million US home owners will lose their homes in the next twelve months, housing sales (new and old) are stalled and new home construction is barely happening.

There are also indications and fears of deflation in the US and people are still losing their jobs by the hundreds of thousands. They too won't be purchasing any homes any day soon. US companies are investing big time in new ventures in China where labour is cheap and plentiful.

Expect Canfor and other companies in Canada to get more "greedy" while simply fighting for their survival.

PrinceGeorge..

I hate to speculate here but isle peire has about one week worth of log inventory in the yard...
Usually this time of year mills are going steady to get good log inventory built up. I can see this one being the next victim if things get worse..

To be accurate, NCP didn't really shut down.

In about 12 months you'll see 2x4 lumber coming in from the trucks, Product of Canada, Made IN China.

My advice to Clear lake employee's, If you need any dental work done or if you think your going to need glasses, get in NOW and get that started! Get to your bank and get those cards consolidated.

Families stay together and try not to fight, as you will get through. I wish you all good-luck and remember you are not the only one's. (Friend)

That is so very nice Hammy! This is what Canadians used to be! It is nice to see an example of that.

Agree hammmy, get the house in order start planing for the future there are support services and funding to help with the transition but first get the finances in order

I heard that they are closing Clear Lake as part of a plan to restart the Rustad Mill.

I heard that too kolberg. It's certainly not fair to the Clear Lake employees. Maybe they can get jobs at Rustad.

Can you say "recall"? i think its time to find a politician who knows how to make money in Canada, or BC in particular, instead of always selling out to the highest bidder. What difference does it make if the govt. makes a killing on wood if no one is working in the province and can't afford any of the products??

I always thought that the other half of the equation to making money was a market, no market, no sales, no sales no money, if you can 't sell your product, then it doesn't really matter what a great deal you got it for does it?

Its the Pat Bell two step. Last week he announced a mill would be opening in PG. This week a mill closes... I wonder if he will be there for that photo op?

We are in the process of selling our country to China for the lowest common denominator in economics. Its well under way. Your children will never have a hope of living the life you had.

EAGLEONE! Bang on!

"i think its time to find a politician who knows how to make money in Canada, or BC in particular, instead of always selling out to the highest bidder."

People who have the brains and talent to make money dont become politicians.

"We are in the process of selling our country to China for the lowest common denominator in economics"

Thats right. WE are. Not the politicians. WE own our country. Politicians are useless. The politicians that I defend on this site are just (in my opinion) the least useless. Dont confuse that with useful. If we are waiting around for politicians to save us we are already dead.

Clear Lake is an old inefficient stud mill,if memory serves the last major upgrade was in the mid 80's. With the US housing industry having the lowest number of new builds in decades and no recovery until at least 2012 it makes sense to close the weakest mill.

There will be more mill closures in the next few years because of reduced AAC due to bug kill. Maybe if the tree huggers would have allowed logging in Tweedmuir years ago, the pine beetle outbreak could have been contained or slowed.

DO NOT TRUST PAT BELL> Remember he was against increasing minimum wage as he continues to practice the Chinese method of sweat shops at his Wendy's Minimum Wage shop. Eagleone you are so right! Pat Bell would love to see us taken over by China. People like Pat Bell, Jimmy Pattison, Gordon Campbell and Canfor do not get where they are by caring about communities or people. Upper Fraser was profitable when it was closed down. The Japanese educated Canadian businessmen about "streamlining their companies" by "cutting back" about 25 years ago. Twelve years later they (Japan) went bankrupt. We continue to fall into these uncontrollable downward spirals. The states is headed for a depression. I guess this is one thing we did not learn from the Japanese. Their revenge for internment camps during WW2.

OMG Japan went bankrupt?

You might be a Hillbilly if.....

CANFOR! "Our Roots Are In This Comunity" my A@#!!! Canfor has one goal and that is to be the biggest. You really think that they care about us. Yep, rumor has it that they are going to reopen Rustad but at what cost. I will bet that they will offer the jobs back to the former employees at a $5 a hr. pay cut as well as reduced benefits- to remain competative no doubt. Know what, check the paper and see what Can't Afford stocks are worth compared to their biggest rival, WestFraser. All the restructuring has done NOTHING to improve Canfor's stock. As I see it, this is another fine example of very poor management. I have been with this caring company for many years and I, as well as with the other fellow employees at our operation have never seen this company run so bad as it is now!! Old man Shepard and Jimmy are goihg to run Canfor into the ground but that is bussiness. Let the governments continue to let the big guy buy up the little guy and soon we will all be in the same sinking boat. Who's next Polar, Isle Pierre, P.G Saw. But wait, if the other operations take a pay cut they will continue to operate..worked for Clear Lake didn't it

the roots are in jimmy wallet

Posted by: alex1212 on September 23 2010 6:28 AMwhy does canfor own so much? what happened to all the independants/ gezz i go away for awhile and,,, Posted by: mythoughts on September 23 2010 7:05 AMCanfor bought them up and then shut many of them down...Upper Fraser, NCP, Rustad...and there's probably more.

All of the mills you mentioned were owned for ages by Noranda Forest/Norbord....far from an independant.
Canfor purchased these operations from them.
It is easy to blame big business and or govt. but in reality mills need to close. There is far too much production for what the market requires.

A good friend of mine works at Clear Lake & told me it's all about fibre supply. Period.

Now back to our regularly scheduled conspiracy theories.

People disenchanted with jimmy pattison
should stay away from saveon foods. Jimmy owns saveon - you could check it out.
Meanwhile wally world aka malwart aka walmart sure has a nice new food section. Check it out; send pattison a message. Saveon is overpriced anyway.

No surprises in seeing Clear Lake shut down. In fact it is amazing that they stayed operating as long as they did. I doubt that they will re-start Rustads, but who knows. Dont see any logs, or activity in the yard, so if they dont start soon they wouldnt do it until next year.

Pat Bell has indicated that he has a close working relationship with the lumber industry, especially the China file, however in fact he has no more relationship with them than any other Forest Minister, thats why he was caught by surprise with the announcement.

If he was close to the action he would have known what was coming. Or did he know but kept it to himself.

Who knows.

What the hell good is China to jobs for us?? What a colossal waste of breath, time and gold, running off to Asia while the people in PG are starving and paying more tax than was ever anticipated. 6 bucks to dump your own garbage can??? Jeeeez!! Where are all the saved dollars the Kinsley group was lipping off about when we purchased the automated garbage truks?? What a bunch of Lieberals.

It's too bad wind wasn't blowing the other way when NCP caught fire. Rustad's would of most likely burnt down too and Canfor would of had to pay severance or rebuild.

That would be a typical Canfor move though, shutdown one and start up another. They did it last year but in reverse order. Pre-election "Makenzie Mill to restart", post election "Sorry Vanvenby, Radium and good old Rustad's".

Don't hold your breath on Rustad's starting back up. There are too many key pieces of equipment missing for it to start anytime soon. It would make more sense to put their money making mills back on three shifts.

You are correct NoSeverance. Some of the other mills are going to start 3 shifts. Isle Pierre will be the first.

I read all posted opinions and I gotta say there all pretty bang on. Here's mine, I wonder why employees at other mills know whats gonna happen like a mill is gonna close before there suposed announcement like when Rustad was anounced friends at other mills told emplyees at rustad hrs before the phone call from jimmy to the bosses like what happened to Clear Lake I know a friend who works at another Canfor mill told me 2 weeks ago a vote was in and canfor was to close clear lake and rustad was to reopen so far 1 for 2. Yes Clear Lake is the oldest and weakest mill in canfor yes there 1 yr agreement for the $5 pay cut is soon to end and there to get there wage back as was before and there the only canfor mill i believe that had a permenent closer in there contract if shutdown(hint hint any contract is up for renewal add in the contract permenent closer if shutdown), now this is my belief now that clear lake is gone out of the picture jimmy can shuffle shutdowns all through the mills like shuffling a deck of cards. Indefinate shutdown one mill open another repeatedly so no severance is to be paid keeping the money in his pocket not in ours. So lets say closing clear lake and they open rustad back up whose the next victom to be shutdown in the shuffle pg sawmill for radium or polar for vanvenby when there 2 yr terms are up.

Yeah, and you all look at the labels on everything you buy to make sure it's Canadian made. Oh wait!! that's too expensive, never mind.