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Mackenzie plans rally to save town |
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Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008 |
There's an impressive line-up of nearly 20 speakers set to address a "save-our-community" rally Friday in Mackenzie to draw attention to the plight of the community.
The list includes Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell, NDP leader Carole James and several national union leaders.
Mackenzie, 175 kilometres north of Prince George, is among the hardest hit communities in B.C. which have been impacted by an unprecedented downturn in the forest sector, led by a collapse in the U.S. housing market.
Three of four sawmills in the community of 4,700 are shut down, two AbitibiBowater mills and one of Canfor's two mills, as well as AbitibiBowater's paper mill. Pope and Talbot, which is in receivership, has a pulp mill that is shut down as well. The closures have put more than 1,000 workers off the job. That does not include the impact on loggers, truckers and suppliers.
The job losses are among more than 3,500 in northern B.C., according to a running tally by The Citizen.
The paper mill in Mackenzie is not expected to reopen, and while there is more hope for AbitibiBowater's sawmills, forest industry analysts don't expect a lumber turnaround until 2010. Pope and Talbot's receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is trying to find a buyer for the pulp mill.
There is a $200-million energy project using wood waste on the books -- an open house is being held from 6 to 9 tonight at the Alexander Mackenzie Hotel -- but it will only create 30 full-time jobs.
The organizers hope to use the rally to focus attention on their community and others in northern B.C., including Fort St. James, where a pair of sawmills are shut down.
"We're in crisis," said Nora Wilkins, a laid-off AbitibiBowater sawmill worker, who notes that four of the five people in her family are out of work.
Only her mother, who works part time at a hotel, is still on the job.
The organizers contend that the provincial government could be doing more to help communities like Mackenzie.
The province is using $129 million in federal funding to create short-term work projects, as well as setting up programs to provide pension bridging and help with tuition. But Alf Wilkins, Nora's dad, also laid off from AbitibiBowater where he had worked 28-years, asks why the province is not matching the $129 million.
He questions how the province can contemplate spending $200 million to install a retractable roof at B.C. Place, and nearly $900 million on the Trade and Convention Centre in Vancouver, and only put up $2 million to help Mackenzie.
How about investing $200 million into Mackenzie and Fort St. James, he said.
The jobs and tax base that could be created would help get the money back pretty quickly, asserted Alf.
"Where's our Olympics?" quipped his daughter Nora, who is frustrated at how long it is taking the province to act.
The organizers of the rally say they also want to ensure that timber does not leave the community of Mackenzie. If necessary, roll back forest policy changes introduced in 2004 to ensure the timber in Mackenzie is tied to the community, said Roxanne Barton, a laid-off chip truck driver.
The organizers also say the provincial government should be pressuring AbitibiBowater to sell the mills if they are no longer interested in operating them.
While Mackenzie is trying to diversify its economy -- looking to mining and tourism, as well as establishing itself as a commuter community to the booming Alberta oil sands, for example -- the rally organizers say that the community's best bet is to restore forest-based jobs at its mills.
"They were viable last January, they can be again," said Nora.
The rally is taking place at the same time as the provincial government's forestry roundtable led by B.C. Forests Minister Rich Coleman is in town.
The roundtable is meant to find short and long-term solutions to help the forest sector survive in B.C.
The organizers say they support the roundtable, and believe more people than ever have been invited to give input at the closed-door sessions. "That's good. That's what we want," said Alf.
Forest companies, and as a result forest-based communities like Mackenzie, are facing an array of negative market forces.
Housing starts in the U.S. have plummeted to half of their high of more than two million in 2005. Lumber prices are in the low-$200 US level, well down from highs of $400 US in 2004 and 2005.
On top of that, companies have been hit by a higher Canadian dollar and a 15-per-cent export tax on lumber shipments to the U.S.
Mackenzie also was caught in a drop in demand for newsprint with AbitibiBowater shutting the plant there in an effort to reduce North American capacity.
While pulp producers are fairing much better, despite the increase in the value of the loonie, the Pope & Talbot pulp mill in Mackenzie was caught in the Portland, Ore.-based company's bankruptcy. Pope & Talbot, which also operates a sawmill in Fort St. James, was hit by low prices, the softwood tariff and a heavy debt load.
SIDEBAR
The community of Mackenzie was given a reprieve of a kind this week when a B.C. Supreme Court turned down a Canfor request to terminate that company's commitment to supply chips to the Pope & Talbot pulp mill there.
Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada local 8 treasurer Bob Smiley, who represents workers at another Pope and Talbot mill in Nanaimo, said the judge put off the termination until at least June 13.
The receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers, was asking for a longer period because having chip supply tied to a pulp mill is critical in making a sale, noted Smiley.
There's more chance of finding a buyer and getting better value if the mill is a going concern, he said.
The PPWC does not represent workers at the Pope and Talbot pulp mill in Mackenzie but has an interest in the issue because there is a similar arrangement at the Pope and Talbot mill in Nanaimo where Western Forest Products has a chip supply agreement.
Smiley said it's likely that the mill in Nanaimo will be treated similarly by the courts.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 May 2008 )
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