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Mill closure tough blow to Quesnel

With the loss of 209 direct jobs and an estimated 800 spin-off jobs affected, thanks to the closure of Canfor's Quesnel sawmill, the Cariboo city is in recovery mode.
Quesnel mayor Mary Sjostrom

With the loss of 209 direct jobs and an estimated 800 spin-off jobs affected, thanks to the closure of Canfor's Quesnel sawmill, the Cariboo city is in recovery mode.

It is not a devastating blow to the local economy, said officials connected to the mill closure, but it is difficult.

"This is very personal for us. I am from Quesnel and two of our executive team are from Quesnel, so it is a hometown concern for the whole company," said Christine Kennedy, Canfor's vice-president of external relations. "Quesnel is an innovative community, resilient and well-led. The mayor has been just tremendous as we all work together to move Quesnel past this in the best possible way."

Mayor Mary Sjostrom said the day Canfor and West Fraser made their joint announcement that each was closing a northern mill in order to each consolidate another (West Fraser lost their Houston operation but their Quesnel facility now has more certainty with Canfor's closure, and vice versa for Canfor), the wheels got turning on a transition plan. The announcements were made on Oct. 24 and mitigation meetings were already being held the next day.

Economic development officers, provincial ministers and staff from a collection of portfolios, municipal leaders, the United Steelworkers union, UNBC and CNC, and the private sector all rallied to mitigate the economic pain, Sjostrom said. Rather than react in panic, she added, a lot of the Canfor closure response dovetailed into plans already underway to boost the town.

"We happened to be right at the centre of the pine beetle epidemic, so Quesnel has been the focus of economic renewal for a long time," Sjostrom said.

Quesnel has three formalized business improvement areas plus a strong "shop local" program, and these voices were focused into the conversation. Also underway is labour market analysis and research into the most effective skills training programs, so workers and their families can transition into different career paths if they don't wish to pursue similar work at the remaining industrial operations in Quesnel.

From her office at City Hall, Sjostrom can easily see the Quesnel Bakery about a block away. As Canfor's Quesnel sawmill was buzzing its last lumber on Monday, a light stream of traffic was coming in for pastries and coffee. A School District 28 outside worker joked with front counter staff about why decaf was even invented. A chalkboard sign above the sticky-buns declares their philosophy: Love Life, Coffee, One Another.

"People are worried," said someone at the counter. "It's fine if you can take one of the jobs Canfor offered people out of town at one of their other mills, but a lot of people don't want to move. Their lives are set up here."

"I have a son and a daughter in their 20s," said a bakery patron. "They can't find any work in Quesnel. It's not easy to get a job here."

The town is in a better economic mood now compared to a few years ago, said Sjostrom, but there is a "business walk" consultation process coming up next week whereby small businesses will be visited for their direct input about economic development.

Attached to that process is a job fair scheduled for April 3 which was stimulated by the Canfor closure, said Sjostrom, "but absolutely this is for the entire community and anyone looking at their employment picture."

At the job fair, a community services needs assessment survey will take place and the suggestions will be brought up at a set of economic transitions forums slated for April 11 and 15, plus the April 24 meeting of the Community Services Transition Team.

Sjostrom said that the impacts to Quesnel small businesses were not easy to calculate, but the effects of the mill would certainly ripple. She said other municipal leaders around the north had plenty of experiences to aid in Quesnel's decision-making and Northern Development Initiative Trust and Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition were some of the agencies also stepping in with support.

"We were already setting up plans for 30 and 40 years out, in all sectors of the Quesnel region's economy, so this work will all go hand in hand with that," Sjostrom said. "I'm not interested in any politics right now, I am looking for any potential issue we can possibly predict, and get around in front of it. Quesnel is a strong, experienced city, very affordable and desirable, so we are going to fight our best fight for our community."