Duane Hicks
A delegation of local municipal and First Nations’ representatives will be starting a “David-and-Goliath” fight for the future of Rainy River District at Queen’s Park tomorrow.
The Town of Fort Frances has chartered a Dash 8 jet, and will be taking as big a delegation as possible to Toronto to ask Premier Kathleen Wynne why the province won’t establish an enhanced sustainable forest licence for the Crossroute Forest.
The group also will ask why the government continues to allow Resolute to control the supply, flow, and cost of wood out of Rainy River District.
“Going forward, I think we really have to keep the pressure on the government,” Mayor Roy Avis said Friday afternoon following a meeting with district municipal and First Nations reps.
The town also issued a press release in which it announced talks between Resolute Forest Products, Expera, and the Province of Ontario, regarding the acquisition of the kraft mill here, have broken off.
“I know that Expera is not going to be pursuing [the mill] anymore,” Mayor Avis said.
“It’s going to have to be either the provincial government or Resolute to pursue a sale with that buyer,” he added.
“It all gets down to a willing seller and a willing buyer,” he explained. “You could have a willing buyer but if you don’t have a willing seller, it doesn’t go any place.
“Therefore, we have to find out what button we have to push in order to make sure that we can get these people back to the table,” the mayor remarked.
District municipalities and First Nations are advocating for a model of the enhanced sustainable forest licence, which would see Resolute, Expera, and Ainsworth sharing the wood supply from the Crossroute Forest, where there’s enough wood for all parties.
Mayor Avis said the support from the district and area First Nations has been “fantastic.”
At Friday’s meeting, in fact, Couchiching Chief Sara Mainville said she would set up a meeting with Premier Wynne.
Chief Mainville also said she feels Expera has proven to be “model citizens” in terms of aboriginal relations in the short time it has been consulting with local First Nations’ stakeholders.
She added local bands are disappointed Expera’s been frustrated in the process to acquire the mill here.
As such, they’ve been trying to put pressure on the province to facilitate the sale.
“My community wants to live and work in the area,” said Chief Mainville.
“My priority is to get a company like Expera to operate the kraft mill.”
As reported in Friday’s Daily Bulletin, talks to buy the local kraft mill broke off last week.
Mayor Avis said Expera would be a “perfect fit” for Fort Frances.
If Expera were to acquire the facility, it would mean a $75-million investment in the local economy, and create 200 jobs at the facility and another 800 related to its operations.
It potentially could mean a restart of paper machines here, as well.
