Duane Hicks
With winter’s chill gripping Borderland already, concerns are running high about how the local mill will survive the season without heat and remain saleable.
“I know there’s been a lot of interest expressed in the community, by residents, regarding the health and safety factor of the facility not being heated in the winter time,” said Mayor Roy Avis yesterday.
“If there was ever a fire there and all the (water) lines are frozen, could they fight the fire properly? There is some concerns regarding that,” he added. “Those concerns have been forwarded to our fire department. In due diligence, in the position that we’re in, we have to check into it.”
Mayor Avis said he has not heard anything back from the Liberal government in the week since the “Our Forest, Our Future” rally here last Wednesday, but remains hopeful in the continuing fight.
“I was glad to see the support (last Wednesday). We had support from all ages of the community,” he remarked.”When you see that, it makes you really feel good, it makes you feel you’re doing the right thing.
“We’re going to keep the pressure on. We’ve got to get this facility heated,” added Mayor Avis. “And we want to get somebody here to operate this facility, going forward.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Campbell, NDP MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, pressed Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Bill Mauro yesterday to release funds to heat the Fort Frances mill before the winter freeze sets in and destroys it.
“No price was too high to bail out the government’s MaRS project, even though high tech companies showed little interest in occupying the space. But a company is interested in taking over the Fort Frances mill. There is a deal to be struck,” she remarked.
“The people of Fort Frances don’t need $300 million. We need just $5 million to save the mill from being destroyed this winter, so we can finalize a plan to keep the mill open and save 1,000 jobs,” Campbell added.
“The clock is ticking. Will the government pay to heat the mill this winter?”
Campbell said the decision to save the Fort Frances mill is about priorities.
If the Liberal government could find hundreds of millions to save and subsidize the MaRS building in downtown Toronto, then it should be able to find $5 million to save the Fort Frances mill, she reasoned.
“This government bent over backwards to bail out its MaRS project, spending over $300 million for a two-thirds empty building,” said Campbell.
“But when the people of the Rainy River district ask the government for help to save 1,000 jobs that depend on the Fort Frances mill, we get only excuses,” she noted.
“As you can tell by the ice on the ground, winter is here. If the Fort Frances mill is not heated, it will be damaged and lost forever,” added Campbell. “This government could find $300 million for MaRS. Will this government find $5 million to save 1000 jobs and heat the mill this winter?”
About 200 people of all ages took to the street last Wednesday with signs in hand to fight for the right to have a share of the Crossroute wood supply and to keep the local mill heated over the winter.
The procession made its way down Scott Street to the parking lot across from shuttered mill, where Mayor Avis, Couchiching First Nation Chief Sara Mainville, and Campbell delivered messages of strength, unity, and hope.
The rally was organized by members of the local ENGAGE young professionals network.
