Province approves Canfor-Interfor timber swap in North Thompson
Credit to Author: Derrick Penner| Date: Sat, 29 Feb 2020 02:54:09 +0000
Forest Minister Doug Donaldson has approved the transfer of Canfor Corp.’s timber-harvesting rights in the North Thompson to rival Interfor Corp. in a long-awaited decision released Friday.
The proposed sale for $60 million was part of the arrangements Canfor made upon closing its Vavenby sawmill last summer, eliminating 172 jobs and dealing a serious blow to the economy around Clearwater.
The transfer of harvesting rights, which amount to 349,000 cubic metres of timber per year, was intended to shore up operations for Interfor’s mill at Adams Lake, but needed the Minister of Forests Lands Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development under new rules introduced last fall.
“Under the previous government, companies could trade tenure like they were hockey cards, and the people impacted were often the last to find out,” Donaldson said in a news release, “even when it resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs.”
The decision on Canfor’s transfer, however, raised concern with community leaders over the time Donaldson’s staff took to come up with a recommendation.
Kamloops North-Thompson MLA Peter Milobar raised the subject in the legislature last week and Donaldson’s answer that he hadn’t seen the application on his desk prompted a complaint from Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell.
“We’re waiting in limbo for this decision to drop,” Blackwell said.
Included in the deal, Canfor committed to create a $200,000 legacy fund for the District of Clearwater, pay $150,000 over five years to the local United Way and $500,000 in funding to the Wells Gray Community Forest.
Interfor will also be required to discuss log-purchasing options with secondary and value-added manufacturers in the North and South Thompson regions.
Canfor CEO Don Kayne said the approval demonstrates government support as the industry “continues the difficult process of reducing production capacity to align with available timber supply.”
Vavenby was one of five interior sawmills to be permanently closed last year as the industry as part of this process.