One of the rituals of life in southern B.C. communities is cross-border shopping for certain items. Even corner store owners are known to pop down to Washington border towns to load up a van with U.S. milk, taking advantage of a price difference generated by our “supply management” system. The recent slide in the Canadian…
Most of the 180 workers to be laid off in the partial shutdown at the Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Mill will still have a few months’ work remaining, their union says. The surprise announcement of an “immediate closure” of the Port Mellon plant’s paper and TMP (thermo mechanical pulp) operations came July 23 from…
Catalyst Paper today reported second quarter financial results, which were negatively impacted by a number of significant, one-time events. Despite these events, operational initiatives are tracking well, positioning the company to deliver significantly improved results. Adjusted earnings before tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was negative $19.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA before specific items was positive $9.7 million,…
Catalyst Paper, a manufacturer of diverse printing papers, said the U.S. Department of Commerce or DOC has issued its preliminary decision to impose countervailing duties on Canadian imports of supercalendered paper. The Coalition for Fair Paper Imports – U.S.-based Madison Paper and Verso Corporation – petitioned the DOC in February and asked it to impose…
Port Hawkesbury Paper is contesting a U.S. Department of Commerce preliminary ruling that says the Nova Scotia company, along with J.D. Irving Ltd. in New Brunswick, are unfairly subsidized. The investigation sets the way to levy duties on supercalendered paper, glossy paper used for magazines and catalogues. The ruling says the Port Hawkesbury plant’s exports to the U.S. are…
Kara McCurdy has 23 years of firefighting under her belt. And her lengthy experience is perhaps why she’s still smiling after some scary experiences during two weeks in Alberta’s wildfire region. The Department of Natural Resources fire prevention officer led a crew of 20 firefighters from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Their task: putting out hot spots around the only…
Tom Harbour of the U.S. Forest Service readily admits he doesn’t know all that much about climate change. But the folksy and plain-spoken Harbour knows plenty about fighting wildfires. And since he first joined the service in 1970, Harbour, the agency’s national director for fire and aviation management, has witnessed “longer seasons” and “bigger fires.”…
A shortage of skilled tradespeople could put a damper on the upswing in the forest sector, according to Unifor. The union says steady jobs, with pay up to $42 per hour at some northwestern Ontario mills, are hard to fill because there are few qualified candidates. Mills in the region are now competing for employees, a situation…
An offhand remark about the shortage of wood pellets has translated into a new enterprise for the Haley Street Adult Services Centre. “With all the press around the shortage of wood pellets, somebody said well why don’t we make wood pellets,” explained society executive director Debra MacLean. “Our wood production officer Randall Finnigan came into…
There was nary a frown – or parking space – in sight at the Algonquin Logging Museum on Saturday. The 20th annual Algonquin Loggers’ Day hosted by the Friends of Algonquin Park, Parks Ontario and Algonquin Forestry Authority packed the museum on July 25. More than 1,000 visitors made their way through the museum as…