I wonder if the government will be sending a couple on million to the company I work for.

Jeez...just how much pull does Jimmy have?

That is how the so called free enterprise system works, government dole, taxpayer money. How do you think those medeival windfarms are getting built.

should delivered some money to the shuttered winton global mill and put back 160 workers,that would have been a better project.

People should recall that this money is a result of the US Subsidy to Pulp and Paper mills in the billions of dollars.

Through a loop hole in US Legislation American companies were able to add diesel fuel to the black liquor by-product that they burn at their mills, and thus qualify for millions of dollars in tax savings. Look up US Subsidy on Black Liquor if you want more information.

In any event this loop hole in the US made them much more competitive and Canadian Mills were somewhat threatened. The Canadian Government provided aprox $1 Billion dollars to pulp and paper to help offset the US Subsidy, however the Canadian money had a **Hook** Any money received from the Government had to be spent on a **Green Project**. As a result we have a huge upgrade to the Northwood Mills.

There is pressure on the US Government to plug the loophole that allows the companies to get money that was never intended to be available to them. The IRS is looking into the issue, along with other Government departments.

Hopefully it will be scrapped this year.

So is this where our carbon tax money goes?
Really asking a legitimate question...

hammmy. The Carbon Tax is a Provincial Tax. Only Quebec and BC have it. Stephen Dion tried to bring a Federal one in during his failed attempt to get elected and it is suggested that the tax had a lot to do with his defeat. One of the worst showings for the Liberals since Confederation.


So the carbon tax has nothing to do with the money given to Northwood , because the money came from the Federal Government not the Province.

I am not overly familiar with the carbon tax, however the tax is supposed to be revenue neutral. The tax runs from 2008 when it was implemented at 2.41 cents per litre, and will be 7.2 cents per litre in 2012. The tax is supposed to be neutralized by lowering corporate and income tax.

As you are probably aware the Provincial Liberals are quick to point out that they have reduced your income tax in the past few years, but of course they dont bother to mention that you are paying this reduced amount at the gas pumps, so in effect you did not actually get any reduction in taxes. There could of course be a benefit for those people who do not drive, but these benefits would be offset by increases in transit fares etc;

I really like to know what's going on here upgrade to the pulp mill good for them, USA housing market to pick up and now india is in the works now he's my say on all this. I'm a Rustad employee or should i say I was a rustad employee and its now been 1 and a half years its been shutdown and our 2 yr indefinate closure agreement ends in july of this year should they reopen or permently shutdown. Other mills knew in advance rustad radium and vanenby were to close as I knew ahead of time clearlake was to have there meeting on its shutdown weeks before the meeting to the crew my sorce says "clear lake to shutdown Rustads to reopen" 3 weeks later clear lake was told of there closure Now I'm hearing from friends from other mills and other employees from rustads that there is to be a major announcement this month on the reopening of rustads in febuary as there waiting for clear lake to permently close its operation so that if half the mill not come back due to better jobs rustad will hire employees from clear lake. Rustads was shutdown same time as radium and vanenby and all 3 mills indefinate closure terms are up in july. To avoid paying buyouts they would have to reopen the mills as rustads is to reopen due to clear lakes closure and with vanenby and radium due to reopen aswell by july two other canfor mills would take the downfall and have there turn in an indefinate shutdown for 2 years and then 2 other mills over and over. If you look it at my opinion on this Patterson can shuffle mills like a deck of cards now clear lake was the only mill in canfor with a permanent closure in there contract and now clear lake is out of the picture Patterson can shuffle away with mill closures to avoid paying buyouts and keep the money in his pocket. So for the canfor mills that are near the bottom of the pack look out for a dim future in the summer and start looking for another job if I'm right about it and these 3 mills reopen. This is what I'm hearing Excell has renewed its contract and have been told of rustads already and a distubiter in town that ships protection equipment like gloves and
protection glasses have been given a huge order for rustads sawmill now just the two things going around should raise an eyebrow and wonder whats the scoop and could this be true for what i'm hearing by many people I may have a job again come feb. Cross my fingers who knows we'll wait and see.

Hope you get your job back canuckfan1974.

On another note I wonder how much of a difference in particulate matter/noxious gases (if any) will we see with the new improvements to the pulp mill? That's a pile of money being spent and I'm not sure it was allocated in the best way possible. Sounds like they had money to burn and had to find a way to burn it.

canuckfan1974 it wiil be like good old times

Seamutt wrote: "How do you think those medeival windfarms are getting built".

Medieval windmills produced energy which could not be transmitted to other locations thus resulting in local production of goods and provided the associated production and transportation jobs allowing those rural communities to continue to exist by trading with larger communities that required the goods produced.

The modern windmills transmit the energy along transmission lines to larger urban centres. They are simply part of the post industrial era whereby resources, whether energy or other resources are transmitted/transported to the high population centres. The only local jobs left are infrastructure installation and maintenance.

These too are limited since much of the maintenance is very specialized and crews are brought in from the large population centres. The infrastructure is pre-manufactured in those centres as well and transported to the remote sites for assembly by skilled crews travelling with the construction team.

In the meantime we are stuck with windmills on the horizon instead of pristine wilderness which at least has spiritual as well as tourism value at the least. Pipelines result in low height vegetation corridors where trees typically stood, and cutting trees results in geometric patterns of various ages of tree stands where natural patterned stands used to exist.

By now we should understand our role in all. We are at the wrong end of the supply line that connects us to the larger centres such as Vancouver, or even centres in China. We are at the giving rather than the receiving end. We are sitting in the classical colonial situation of feeding the large population centres. It is really not much different from the times when the young urban centres in Canada were the administration centres managing the channelling of goods from the hinterlands of the country to the populations of Paris and London.

The proverbial question is: "what is in it for us"? I think we need to become smarter at answering that question for ourselves. Otherwise our attempts at being "Maitre chez nous" (masters of our own home) and our importance in the system will never be fully realized. Decisions will continue to be made for us elsewhere and people on web sites such as Opinion 250 will continue to bitch. :-)

Those windmill are hugely expensive. Over the course of a year will only produce 30% of their nameplate rating, the wind don't always blow. Yes they are connected to the transmission system but because of poor efficiency for each mw they produce they need a backup of that mw for when the wind don't blow.