Inside
● ●
‘BATH SALTS’ IN BC P. 3 EDITORIAL P. 6
● ●
CAREER WEEK P. 5-9 HALLOWEEN SAFETY P. 11
E xpress OMINECA
Publications Mail Contract # 40007840
$1.30 Inc. GST Vol. 36 No. 35
Serving Vanderhoof ● Fort Fraser ● Fraser Lake & Area www.ominecaexpress.com
Canfor and West Fraser mill closures
Day
ligh Tim t Savi n e en ds gs
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Ferland Park upgraded
Canfor announced Oct. 24 that it will permanently close its sawmill located in Quesnel, in March 2014. Canfor’s 209 Quesnel-based employees will be offered positions elsewhere in the company. Canfor has entered into an agreement with West Fraser Mills Ltd. for an exchange in forest tenure rights. Canfor is exchanging 382,194 m3 of replaceable forest licence allowable annual cut in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area as well as 53,627 m3 of replaceable forest licence allowable annual cut in the Lakes Timber Supply Area with West Fraser in exchange for receiving 324,500 m3 of replaceable forest licence allowable annual cut in the Morice Timber Supply Area. The companies are also exchanging non-replaceable licenses and undercut volumes. “The timber availability in the Quesnel region following the mountain pine beetle infestation unfortunately leaves us unable to continue operation of our Quesnel sawmill,” said Don Kayne, President and CEO of Canfor Corporation, in a press release. “The additional fibre we have been able to secure in the exchange agreement with West Fraser enhances the fibre requirements for our Houston facility. We are committed to minimizing the impacts of this closure on our Quesnel employees.” Provincial and federal assistance is also available for affected workers and provincial government staff will be working closely with the District of Houston and City of Quesnel, said Forests Minister Steve Thomson, who is on a forestry trade mission to Japan and China. “Unfortunately, given the mountain-pinebeetle infestation, this news is not unexpected. This government has invested over $884 million to mitigate the beetle’s economic and environmental impacts, which includes supporting regional beetle action coalitions and economic diversification funding through the Northern Interior Development Initiative Trust.”
Sam Redding Omineca Express Ferland Park in the heart of the heart of B.C. has finally upgraded its bathrooms. Vanderhoof’s Ferland Park had its original bathrooms since 1967. The new ones are pre-fabricated design, somewhat similar to the NVSS bathrooms only much smaller. The old ones, though well maintained by park staff, were getting too old to be feasible for much longer. So last week, before the snows, the district put in the new building by lifting it up out of the truck and setting it down on the foundation set for it. The building sat on the truck for about a week while the district waited for the right equipment to move it.
Christmas by Kids Also featuring Children’s Stories, Pictures, Christmas Articles, Letters to Santa & more in the December 11, 2013 issue of the Omineca Express & the Caledonia Courier. Call us at 250-567-9258 for more information