Unifor believes time is of the essence in getting the idled pulp and paper mill in Fort Frances back in production.
The union is adding its voice in the call for the provincial government to get involved in supporting the community and the forest industry.
Local National Representative Stephen Boon says there was a belief Resolute Forest Products was being cooperative and was truly interested in selling the facility if the right buyer came out.
Boon says restrictions contained in a sale agreement to sell the mill to Riversedge Developments restrict a buyer to produce pulp and paper, essentially killing the mill.
He adds the government can’t shame a company to do the right thing, but they can apply pressure.
“The province continues their wood licensing, the province controls their regulations, their road money going forward, wood consumption. All of those kinds of things are controlled and obviously, because of the loans that were forgiven, the province at the end of the day carries a big stick and can also work with Resolute to make it whole.”
Boon is urging the government to quickly intervene, noting re-starting the mill would see 600 direct jobs restored by next year.
“We’ve lost almost 15 permanent closures in the region in the last 15 years. The wood is there. To create a new mill from scratch is just not financially viable for most companies because it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions of dollars.”
Boon notes Resolute has received millions of dollars from the province yet rejected every proposal put forward to renewed mill operations. The company instead sold the property to Riversedge Developments.
The developer has been talking with parties interested in the mill but has also discussed the potential of the site being a marijuana grow operation. Boon says that should be a last resort.
“You don’t tear down and demolish the engine of the economic engine of Fort Frances for some potential scheme that you could do (anywhere). There are thousands of acres of the area around Fort Frances if you want to build a marijuana grow op….there’s plenty of opportunity to do that.”
He states there’s a growing movement towards producing brown paper, stressing the facility is perfectly fitted for that new reality.
Boon says they’ve kept in touch with Rainy River Packaging, one of the companies that expressed interest in the mill. But he says until restrictions placed on the sale of the property are listed, nobody can do anything.
