North Cowichan’s mayor is urging B.C.’s forest minister to take action to ensure the survival of the Crofton pulp and paper mill, which has seen ongoing closures.
Rob Douglas wrote to Bruce Ralston last week asking for “enhanced provincial support” for the mill and its union workers, some of whom have been out of work since July.
The paper side of the Crofton mill is currently idle and not expected to start up again until at least the end of February.
“With the current challenges in the global pulp and paper market, we are increasingly concerned about the long-term future of this site, which is both our biggest employer and taxpayer in North Cowichan and the broader Cowichan Region,” Douglas said in the Jan. 5 letter.
It would be “devastating” to lose the mill, he said.
Residents directly and indirectly rely on the Paper Excellence operation for jobs, said Douglas, who noted in an interview on Tuesday that local businesses also provide supplies to the mill.
The municipality receives $4.5 million in property taxes from the mill, which represents 13 per cent of its tax base.
Workers who are off the job are under a lot of stress, with families, mortgages and bills to pay, said Douglas, who hopes to speak with Ralston this week.
“I really feel for those folks who are being impacted and many of them are North Cowichan residents and taxpayers as well. We are definitely doing what we can as a municipality to advocate for the long-term future of the mill and all those jobs it provides.”
About 60 members on the paper side of the mill are currently relying on employment insurance to get by, said Tanner McQuarrie, president of Unifor Local 1132.
Six of the union’s junior members have left to take jobs at the company’s Port Alberni operation, he said.
Others are considering early retirement, while many are not sure what to do given the uncertain situation.
“A lot of us aren’t making ends meet,” McQuarrie said.
The mill received a lifeline a year ago when the provincial and federal governments put up a combined $18.8 million to retool the mill to manufacture new paper products to cut back on single-use plastics.
A statement released Wednesday by Paper Excellence thanked Douglas for his support, but lacked any signal about the mill’s long-term future.
“We understand and are keenly aware of the value the mill represents for the people of North Cowichan and the broader Cowichan region,” said Blair Dickerson, vice-president of public affairs.
Gordon Dawe, president of Local 2 of the Public and Private Workers of Canada, representing about 400 union members at Crofton’s pulp operation, said he’s mainly concerned about forestry management, saying the sector needs fibre.
He praised the province’s coast fibre recovery zone initiative, which aims to increase the use of logging waste.
Douglas wrote that this and other measures would help improve the mill’s productivity and sustainability, by providing it with additional fibre.
Other initiatives include promoting use of lower-value wood and speeding up applications for cutting permits.
