The infrastructure wish lists of post-secondary institutions in Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie are being fulfilled after the federal and provincial governments went on a funding tear. Confederation College and a First Nations training institute received a combined $20.76 million in federal and provincial funding for construction of a new campus building and for…
This week, the legal safety net was removed from the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement, but it is mostly business as usual so far for area lumber production. The trade pact ran past its actual due date more than a year ago, but there was a one-year provisional carry-on of the deal and once that passed…
B.C.’s forest products industry may not have the economic heft it had 25 years ago, but it remains the lifeblood of many small communities in the Interior and on the North Coast. So the expiry on Wednesday of a standstill agreement that had effectively extended the 2006 Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Accord, which officially ended last…
The provincial government has identified a potential buyer for the Tolko Industries kraft paper mill in The Pas and approved a new regulation aimed at helping secure the deal. Tolko announced in August it planned to close the mill by Dec. 2, throwing more than 300 people out of work. Tolko confirmed last month it…
The government of Manitoba has approved a regulation at the request of both Tolko Industries and a potential purchaser of the kraft paper mill in The Pas, Premier Brian Palliser said on Friday. Tolko Industries, the largest employer in The Pas, announced in August that it would be closing the mill in early December, putting 332 people out of work….
A third party consultant has confirmed that there are no chemical additives added to Cantimber Biotech’s operations, despite recent accusations. Chad Darby, from Golder and Associates, was hired by the Port Alberni Port Authority(PAPA) to conduct a study of the Chinese owned and operated mill’s operations. An open meeting was held on Thursday, Oct. 13…
The Port of Prince Rupert has made it more attractive for clients farther away to ship lumber through Prince Rupert versus Vancouver. A brand new lumber transload facility, CT Terminals, is up and running on Ridley Island, brought to the area by a limited partnership consisting of Tidal Coast Terminals and Coast Tsimshian Enterprises. The…
Canada’s once-a-decade softwood lumber trade war with the U.S. appeared on the verge of reigniting Wednesday with the end of a legal grace period that threatens to kick off another round of petitions, panels and punitive tariffs. The American softwood lobby has confirmed plans to launch a process that could culminate sometime next year in…
Canada could lose out in softwood lumber negotiations with the U.S. if it doesn’t get its “act together” and form a unified front, according to international trade lawyer Mark Warner. The two governments said Wednesday said they are continuing talks to try to reach a new softwood lumber deal, even though a one-year standstill period…
Thirty years ago; Canada and the United States negotiated their first, supposed “free trade agreement”, the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement. One of the key trade irritants between the two nations at the time was the softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. The nexus of the dispute was the claim by…