For Ontario and Quebec sawmills to prosper they need free, unencumbered access for softwood lumber exports to the U.S. market, Resolute Forest Products president Richard Garneau told Parliament’s Standing Committee on International Trade this week. “We need to be able to sell freely to the U.S. Indeed, that was the whole point of the Canada-U.S….
Alberta is home to the first commercial-scale plant in Canada to extract a natural substance in trees called lignin for the development of sustainable new value-added products. West Fraser, a diversified forest products company with operations across Western Canada, has built the new plant at its pulp mill inHinton, Alta. The state-of-the art facility will…
A worker at the Harmac Pacific pulp mill near Nanaimo has died after the wood chip pile he was standing on collapsed. Chris Fletcher, 37, of Nanaimo, had worked at the mill for four years and was a popular employee-owner, said company president Levi Sampson. “We’ve got extremely heavy hearts right now at Harmac.” The…
Today as we cruise down the hill approaching Coopers Cove when driving out from Victoria, with perhaps a quick glance at the quiet cove, noting small boats and kayaks, we see a background view of a closed-down industrial site. Probably it’s hard to believe the enormity of the sawmilling enterprise that sustained much of Sooke’s…
A paper mill in Maine is closing down this spring, to the potential benefit of its rival, the heavily subsidized Port Hawkesbury Paper mill in Point Tupper.Nova Scotia ratepayers who think this contraction in the North American market for high-end paper has nothing to do with them should think again. Other customers of Nova Scotia…
The light and noise pollution that Lavington residents have been complaining about for months from their industrial neighbours is finally getting some attention. For the second time in five months, since the Pinnacle Pellet Plant opened in late September, neighbours have aired their concerns with the District of Coldstream. “Our home has been bombarded with…
WorkSafeBC says it could be months before its investigation into an explosion and fire at a wood products mill in Quesnel is complete. No one was injured in the blast, which occurred Wednesday at about 5:30 p.m. A cause has not been determined and the company that owns the WestPine MDF mill says it’s unclear…
Lumber companies in northeastern Ontario are fearing a new trade war with the U.S. just as their industry is rebounding. After the dark days in the middle of the last decade when many mills were shuttered across the region, the strengthening American housing market has seen the bottom lines improve and new jobs created. But…
Resolute Forest Products Inc., a Canadian pulp and paper producer, is on track for a record surge following a jump in newsprint prices. The Montreal-based company is raising newsprint prices by $40 a ton in the U.S. and C$45 ($33) per ton in Canada, the first price increase in nearly six years, spokesman Seth Kursman…
Western Forest Products (TSX:WEF) has resorted to layoffs at its Port Alberni sawmill, says the Truck Loggers Association (TLA), but not because of falling revenue. In fact, the company last week reported a doubling of fourth quarter earnings over Q4 2014, and year-over-year, the company’s annual revenue for 2015 grew by $1 billion – a…