For the third time in less than a month, northern towns are facing tough times after a major employer announced it will close its doors. On Aug. 22, 2016, Tolko Industries announced that as of Dec. 3, 332 employees in The Pas will be without jobs. The privately owned B.C.-based forestry products company is set to close…
A 15-year study into Dutch elm disease in Fredericton found half of the local trees tested showed at least some tolerance to the disease. Grafts were from cuttings from local elms 15 years ago and they produced 150 trees. Those trees were later inoculated with spores from the disease to see if any of them survived. Half of…
Wood products exports from Canada to Asia were down 18 per cent in the first six months of 2016, with the biggest decline being softwood lumber from B.C. to China, according to the Seattle-based Wood Resources International. Lumber sales to China are on pace to drop by 50 per cent this year compared to 2014,…
It’s been a whirlwind summer in the forests of Northern Ontario for a group of Indigenous youth, but they have a new and valuable skill set to show for it. Forty-six youth celebrated their graduation from the award-winning First Nations Natural Resources Youth Employment Program on Thursday afternoon with a ceremony at the Fort William First…
Since the very beginning, the biggest employer in The Pas, Man., has had difficulty turning a profit. But the latest blow could be the final strike that fells the sawmill for good. On Monday, Tolko Industries officials said after spending 19 years trying to make money in The Pas, the Vernon, B.C.-based company will close the mill in…
Growing up in the Ottawa Valley, Derek Nighbor appreciated from a young age the importance of the forest sector to the local economy. “My brother and I were fortunate enough to earn good money in the summer on the same corrugated box making factory floor where my grandfather and father earned their livelihoods,” said the CEO of …
Illinois-based equipment manufacturer Deere and Company, which sells John Deere construction equipment among other products, announced a drop-off in sales for its third quarter worldwide in its third-quarter earnings summary. Construction and forestry sales decreased 24 per cent for the quarter and 21 per cent for nine months mainly as a result of lower shipment…
If there is one thing I have learned from the past four years of producing my new documentary seriesHeartwood: A West Coast Forestry Documentree, it is that there is no shortage of people who all agree that B.C.’s forest sector is in desperate need of some new ideas – particularly on the coast. I have…
The mayor of The Pas says the town was shocked to learn its main employer, Tolko Industries, is closing down. The forestry products company employs 332 people in The Pas, a town of about 5,500 people. All Tolko employees will be laid off when operations end Dec. 2, 2016. “It’s just so shocking, so unbelievable, so mind-numbing that we’ve got…
A leading Canadian public health official has commended New Brunswick’s review of a controversial herbicide used by the forestry industry and NB Power. Dr. John McLaughlin, the chief science officer and senior scientist with Public Health Ontario, reviewed the report released by New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell examining the use of glyphosate…