Press Release
As Ontario’s wood supply competition comes to a close, three more forestry companies have accepted offers, creating 55 new jobs and protecting 741 existing jobs.
AbiBow Canada Inc. in Fort Frances has accepted a wood supply offer of 317,500 cubic metres per year of merchantable and unmerchantable spruce, pine, fir, white birch and poplar.
This will help increase pulp and paper production to previous levels, and generate power at the mill. The new wood allocation will help protect 584 jobs.
“This new wood supply allocation is crucial for the future of our Fort Frances operations, and is an important element as we build a sustainable future for this facility,” said Roger Barber, AbiBow Canada’s general manager for forestry and fibre resources for Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
Meanwhile, Weyerhaeuser Company Limited in Kenora has accepted an offer of 72,000 cubic metres per year of merchantable white birch and poplar.
This will increase production at its laminated strand lumber plant, creating 43 new jobs and protecting 157 jobs.
Wincrief Forestry Products L.P. in Kenora has accepted an offer of 17,000 cubic metres per year of merchantable spruce, pine and fir.
The company will build a plant to manufacture utility poles at its modular housing plant, creating 12 new jobs.
“This announcement secures the fibre needed to rebuild our forest industry in Kenora,” said Kenora mayor Dave Canfield.
“We plan to turn the old Abitibi site into a new value-added cluster of forest-based businesses. This site could become the blueprint of the new forest products industry in Ontario,” he added.
So far, 34 offers have been accepted, creating 613 jobs and protecting another 2,370 existing jobs while helping local economies.
The 34 accepted wood supply offers announced to date will put to use a total of 4,762,800 cubic metres per year of wood.
“This wood supply competition is the largest in Ontario’s history, with just a few offers still to be accepted,” said Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry.
“I’m very pleased with the number and variety of accepted proposals, which we hope will all mature into successful economic development opportunities that put Ontario’s wood to work and provide jobs for northerners,” he added.
The competition aimed to put unused wood to work while the Province took steps to introduce a new forest tenure and pricing system.
Helping build a stronger forest industry is a key component of the plan laid out in Ontario’s 2011 Budget – Turning the Corner, to create and support 10,000 new and existing jobs for Ontario families, and to strengthen local economies.
