Terrace’s only sawmill has shut down one of its main wood processing units as log supply and foreign markets dwindle, which is the second slowdown in the last year. “This time the mill has cut production by half,” said Skeena Sawmills official Roger Keery last week. “Our sawmill isn’t running but the planner mill is…
Resolute Forest Products is stepping up efforts to counter dwindling demand for paper by accelerating its entry into the North American tissue business. The Montreal-based company expects to become the continent’s 10th largest tissue maker — joining Canadian rivals Cascades and KP Tissue — with the acquisition of Florida-based Atlas Paper and investing in one…
Pointe-Claire will cut down 325 ash trees on public property over the next four months to prevent the spread of the invasive emerald ash borer. For a variety of reasons, the trees tagged for removal could not be treated by TreeAzin, a liquid that can help prevent infestations of the tiny beetle that has already killed millions of…
Graduates of a new forestry equipment operator program say they are ready to get to work. “The program has given me the knowledge I need to excel,” said Alkali Lake resident Sheldon Paul during the grad celebration held Friday at the Old School Training and Recreation Complex in Riske Creek. “There was a lot to…
On any visit to Cape Breton Highlands National Park, to see a moose is a highlight. But the proliferation of those giant, lumbering creatures has stirred up a giant controversy. Derek Quann, a spokesman for the park, says its 1,800 moose are eating too many young evergreen trees, reducing once-dense forest to meadows. Destruction of…
The Chair of the Board of Forest Products Association of Canada, Curt Stevens, today announced that Paul Lansbergen will be taking over as acting President and CEO of FPAC as of December 14th, 2015. Lansbergen will replace the departing CEO, David Lindsay, who held the leadership position for the last three years. “We wish David…
For anyone thinking that the Obama administration’s decision on the Keystone pipeline represents a clearing of the Canada-U.S. decks — guess again. Another major trade dispute is lurking just around the corner, and it’s on an all-too familiar topic: softwood lumber. Against the backdrop of a U.S. presidential election, the Softwood Lumber Agreement — which…
When the Prime Minister’s Office released the ministerial mandate letters for the new cabinet last Friday, the thing that stood out to political observers, beyond the unprecedented nature of their publication at the federal level, was the specificity of the marching orders. Which is why the omission, from Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland’s mandate, of the…
The U.S. and Canada have for decades fought over the lumber trade. Now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is about to be initiated into the knotty world of timber relations, specifically regarding glossy magazine paper. Four Canadian companies — Catalyst Paper Corp., J.D. Irving Ltd., Port Hawkesbury Paper LP, Resolute Forest Products Inc. — say they plan to…
A dramatic increase in B.C. food and beverage exports is leading manufacturers to wonder whether food could surpass forestry as B.C.’s biggest manufactured category. “If you take food and beverage from the Statistics Canada data now, it’s going to be the largest component of manufacturing in the province,” said Marcus Ewert-Johns, B.C. vice-president of Canadian Manufacturers…