Houston Today, October 30, 2013

Page 1

Community Halloween Party at the Arena from 6-8:30pm PAGE 9 Publications Mail Registration #0040028607

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013

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West Fraser closes HFP By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today

SPOOKY Celebrations

Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today

Lifeguards Ann Hak, Shad Anderson and Cassie Ofner dressed up in Halloween costumes for the Pirate Haunted House party at the Houston Leisure Facility last Friday. The party included a Halloween colouring contest with prizes and water games for kids such as the water bomb toss and underwater hockey. See page 9 for information about the District of Houston Halloween Party.

The Houston community was shocked last Thursday afternoon to hear of the pending closure of Houston Forest Products (HFP). “It was total disappointment, total shock,” said Mayor Bill Holmberg when asked about his reaction to the news. “My heart is with all the millworkers who are going to be out of a job in the second quarter of 2014,” he said. “It was something in the background that we knew sooner or later might happen, but we certainly didn’t get much advance warning.” Holmberg says they still don’t know much detail about the plans of HFP and Canfor, so it’s too early to say how the closure will affect Houston. He says that some

The HFP premanent closure affects 225 mill employees.

of the HFP cut is being transferred to Smithers and some to Canfor. “What does that mean for our logging community? “I’m being told by HFP there will be no change on the basis of their contractors, but we’ll have to believe it when we see it,” he said. Houston Chamber of Commerce President and Home Hardware owner Troy Reitsma says the economic impact will be devastating. See MILL on Page 3

Community in shock over pending mill closure By Walter Strong Black Press

Late Thursday afternoon, West Fraser announced the shutdown of its Houston Forest Products mill operation and Canfor Corporation (Canfor) announced the closure

of its Quesnel sawmill. The Houston sawmill closure will affect 225 employees, and will be completed by spring 2014. The closure of the Quesnel mill will be completed in early spring, with 209 employees affected, although Canfor indicated

Bonuses for employees who remain until closure - Dave Lehane, West Fraser Vice President

those employees would be offered positions elsewhere in

the company. The decision to close the Houston

operation is part of West Fraser’s Mountain Pine Beetle Plan, which includes exchanging forest licenses with Canfor to bolster the viability of other West Fraser operations. “The mountain pine beetle devastation has and will continue

to undermine the availability of merchantable timber in the interior of B.C.,” said Ted Seraphim, West Fraser president and chief executive officer. “The shutdown of our Houston mill has been a difficult decision and we will work closely with the

affected employees to support them through this process. Our first priority is to explore opportunities to transition Houston employees to one of our other operations and we will provide assistance in finding new employment.” See BONUS on Page 3

www.glaciertoyota.ca

1.866.844.6723

3187 Tatlow Rd. Smithers, BC

DL#31288


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