Bell to Huddle With Canfor

Friday, May 25, 2007 11:40 AM

Prince George North M.L.A. Pat Bell is huddling with Canfor Executives this afternoon, hoping to convince them to rethink the planned indefinite closure of the Mackenzie sawmill.

The closure was announced earlier this week as Canfor tries to reduce its losses. The Company lost nearly $43 million dollars last year, and says it is on the path to losing $170 million in 2007.

Low lumber prices, reduced demand, an over supply and a high Canadian dollar have all contributed to the pressures being felt not just by Canfor but by all the dimension lumber producers.

For Mackenzie, the news means 450 people will be off the job for an unknown period. The mill is one of the least efficient in Canfor’s holdings maiking some wonder if it would ever be reopened. The danger say analysts is that if the workers are off the job, they will leave the area and head to where they can find work, and that will create a serious labour shortage should the mill opt to come back on line.

Industry experts say there is enough fibre supply in the Mackenzie area to make the mill viable.

Bell is hopeful that if Canfor will not reverse its decision, there will be some measures taken to mitigate the impact of such a decision.

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Posted on Friday, May 25, 2007 11:40 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on May 25 2007 12:19 PM

Where was Pat Bell before it got to this stage?
Where were any government officals who knew damn well that this would come?
This is only the beginning, and as usual,the politicians only come up for air when the crap hits the fan!
Too little too late,and very little credibility on the governments part.
I would suspect Pat Bell also knows that this could hand him a defeat in the next election!
But hey,thanks for trying eh!

Posted by: ICEMAN on May 25 2007 12:27 PM

Maybe just maybe Pat will give the canfor executives free burgers and fries for life if they dont close the sawmill

Posted by: ICEMAN on May 25 2007 12:29 PM

MAYBE pAT WILL OPEN HIS RESTAURANT UP IN MACKENZIE TO EMPLOYEE THEM

Posted by: BCRacer on May 25 2007 1:11 PM

I am surprised that he is taking time out of his big pay raise to do much of anything...
A holiday or something has to be suffering..
If he is trying to convince us he is working for "US", I am not convinced....
I think this a lot of smoke and mirrors...

Posted by: He speaks on May 25 2007 5:56 PM

The prices are so depressed, that the logs are just being wasted and the lumber given away. We need to maximize our resources and employ as many people as possible with our resources. The Canfors and West Fraser is in the race to get as much wood out with the least amount of employees. This needs to turn around and the final consumer should pay for the lumber.

Come on $300 a thousand. It was like that 20 years ago. The incentive should be given to these corporation to employ so many person hours per 1000 bf of lumber.

Seriously the cost of lumber, it going up to $450.00 a thousand is not going to stop the consumer from building a house. It only adds probably $2,500.00 to the project.

It is too bad that 25% of the population in Mackenzie is effected, but our government should get into maximizing our resources to employ as many people as possible in good paying and meaningful employment. Instead of being in the rat race to be the lowest unit cost, at the expense of the working person.

Posted by: REALIST on May 25 2007 6:09 PM

Just how much do you think the so called Softwood lumber deal had in this decision? Perhaps we should change the name Mackenzie to Harperville to reminde people to be careful who they vote for in elections.

Posted by: trueblue2 on May 25 2007 6:12 PM

As long as there are Home Depots, Rona's, Lowes etc, there will be Canfor's West Fraser's etc.

Northern BC has never been set up to maximize its resources. From the beginning, mills were created for maximum output. We produce framing lumber here at record speeds. We are going to need to find something else besides the forest industry to be our bread and butter. Diversifying our economy is key, and if that includes niche wood proudcts, great. But we can't expect that to take the place of thousands of jobs.

Posted by: eastcoaster on May 25 2007 10:27 PM

The simple truth is the government can't create jobs. About the only thing a government is set the conditions so the are doesn't lose jobs. THe softwood deal was a bad deal but it was good politics at the time. Now the eyes are on a majority government. Not much will change out here as the affected areas will vote for Harper MP's no matter what. A monkey could run for them and people would still elect them. Same things happens out East in some Conservative and Liberal ridings. People have short memories and can usually be bout with an insignificant tax cut or even a promise

Posted by: ICEMAN on May 26 2007 1:29 PM

some of the later comments that were posted under my name were not me i left my computer logged in and some one thought it was funny to do

Posted by: ICEMAN on May 26 2007 2:07 PM

some of the later comments that were posted under my name were not me i left my computer logged in and some one thought it was funny to do