Pope and Talbot Receiver Gets Extension

Friday, June 13, 2008 04:59 PM

Prince George, B.C. – The B.C. Supreme Court has granted another extension to Pope and Talbot’s bankruptcy proceedings.

That leaves the fate of three mills, including the Ft. St. James sawmill, Mackenzie pulp mill and Harmac pulp mill in Nanaimo in limbo.

Chief Justice Donald Brenner agreed to the extension after hearing support for it from lawyers for the receiver, prospective buyers and the B.C. government.

Only Canfor Corp. lawyer Shelley Fitzpatrick opposed the extension. The extension would mean Canfor would have to continue to live up to it’s agreement to provide chips to the Mackenzie pulp mill and Canfor has just announced the shut down of its own sawmill in Mackenzie.

The Pope and Talbot properties are in the control of the receiver, Price Waterhouse Coopers. The receiver was arguing for the extension under federal legislation that allows financially troubled corporations the chance to restructure their affairs.

Brenner already granted a previous extension last month and the latest will expire July 7.

The hearing today came on the heels of an employee-backed proposal to buy the idled Harmac pulp mill in Nanaimo, B.C. there are also said to be a couple of offers in the wings for the Mackenzie pulp mill.

The Mackenzie mill has been idled since the previous buy out deal fell flat. Prince George North MLA Pat Bell has indicated there have been several offers for the mill, three of them serious contenders.

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Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008 04:59 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: tinyapplecork on June 13 2008 6:31 PM

Cough up Canfor! Way to go employees! There might be light at the end of the tunnel afterall.

:)

Posted by: invisableman on June 13 2008 7:18 PM

The ties make more money.

Posted by: snowflake on June 13 2008 11:26 PM

It's my understanding that the chip contract Canfor has in Mackenzie is just that a contract with Canfor NOT just the Canfor Mackenzie mill, which means if a bid is accepted for P & T Pulpmill then Canfor has to provide chips to them at a cheap cost so if the mill is down in Mackenzie they would have to truck them in from their Bear Lake mill or from another one of their mills!!

I think Canfor just wants to pull out of the deal so they dont have to provide ANY chips from any of their mills and then they can keep the Mackenzie mill down!!

Canfor Mackenzie was not producing and is a high cost mill to run so as a business person what would you have done? Keep it running at a loss? I don't think so !!!

Posted by: RUEZ on June 14 2008 12:53 AM

Geeze people sure like to bitch about Canfor. How about some of the other companies that shut down in Mackenzie?

Posted by: whitewater on June 14 2008 5:33 AM

Why do people think you have to cut lumber to provide chips?

It is cheaper to make chips with lower grade logs, and a lot less people, to chip up the whole log. If Canfor has to they will provide chips for the pulp mill, like they do for their own mills, by chipping whole logs.
I think like any other business that provides a service for a bankrupt case you just want to get paid.