now's not the time to point blame for forest industry cutbacks

Prince George Mayor Simon Yu knows the sickening gut punch that came with Canfor’s latest forest industry cutbacks that will have a direct hit on the region’s economy.

The company is also suspending its planned reinvestment in its already-curtailed sawmill in Houston, about 300 km west of the city. The pending closure and Northwood cutbacks are just the latest in a round of ominous business decisions that have eaten into the heart of the north central Interior forest economy.

All the closures combined at the five sites add up to 575 lost positions and it could be more if the Houston mill suffers any more curtailments and/or closures. That doesn’t take into account all the down-the-line workers whose jobs are affected such as tradespeople, suppliers, truck drivers, and retail/service industry workers.

“Immediately we must come together as a region to analyze the skill set of all the people affected and see where we can get some retraining programs and get some jobs for them,” said Yu. “We want to take a look at all the city projects and if we can use the skil lset of the people getting laid off. Perhaps we can initiate some infrastructure projects and make sure the jobs go to these people.

Yu said it doesn’t help to point the finger at provincial governments and their forest management practices and says that that won’t provide any solutions to the people who are about to lose their jobs.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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