FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
< Battle at the Border
College Basketball tourney approaching | Page 9
Pleased to meet you, Cousin > New human ancestor discovered | Page 7
www.facebook.com/ TownsmanBulletin Like Us and keep up to date with all the breaking East Kootenay news.
Like Us TownsmanBulletin Follow Us
INCLUDES G.S.T.
@crantownsman
Vol. 64, Issue 175
1
$ 10 Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
www.dailytownsman.com
Final months for the mill
Reaction pours in to announcement that Canfor’s Canal Flats saw mill to shut down permanently on Nov. 9 TRE VO R CR AWL EY
Reactions continue to pour in to the news that the Canal Flats saw mill will close permanently in early November. On Wednesday, Canfor announced the permanent closure of the mill effective Nov. 9, 2015, which will impact roughly 80 jobs. The USW Local 1-405 immediately decried the announcement, as president Doug Singer noting that the closure came pretty much out of the blue. “There was nothing communicated to us that would lead us to believe that there was any imminent problem coming down the road in the near future at home,” Singer said. Rig matting and access matting production—a big part of the mill operation—had taken a particularly hard hit, according to Singer. “They hadn’t told us that the market had gotten worse from what
we were aware of,” he said. The closure comes after layoffs in May, which claimed roughly 100 jobs and reduced the operation down to one shift. Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald expressed his disappointment over the news in a press release. “I am not particularly surprised that Canfor has made the decision to close the sawmill in Canal Flats, as forest corporations no longer have any responsibility to mill wood near where it is harvested, or to take into consideration the effects of their business decisions on the communities they work in,” said Macdonald. Macdonald took issue with ‘appurtenance obligation’ changes made by the provincial government to the Forest Act agreement. “The way it was set up prior to 2003 by the Social Credit government was that wood from an area needed to be milled in that area,” Macdonald said. “The BC Liberals removed that obligation in 2003 and since then there has been a consolidation of milling. It makes sense for the companies of course, but for rural BC it leads to removal of industry.”
See CANAL FLATS, Page 3
COURTESY JANE NIXON
Pinewood Elementary School hosted their annual Welcome Breakfast on Thursday, September 10. Families enjoyed the fresh continental breakfast on a beautiful morning beside the Pinewood playground. Pictured here: Kaiya & Layla Ewen enjoy the sunshine with their mom, Alana.
Fisherman attacked by grizzly near Canal Flats Books wanted for largest ARNE PETRYSHEN
A grizzly bear attacked an angler near Canal Flats on Wednesday night. The attack occurred just off Findlay Creek Road, about eight kilometres up. Conservation Officer Joe Caravetta said the man was walking along a path and startled a young grizzly bear at a distance of about three meters. “The bear attacked the angler, biting him on his leg and hand. The bear fled shortly and the angler made his way back to the vehicle, returned to Canal Flats and contacted 911,” Caravetta said.
The man was then taken to the Invermere hospital, with non-life threatening injuries. “Conservation Officer Services and the RCMP attended at the site where the attack occurred and closed the area off and advised others in there to the incident and to leave the area,” he said. Caravetta said they determined there was no immediate threat to the public at that site at that time. Four officers attended the site Thursday morning to further investigate.
See GRIZZLY, Page 5
book sale in the region TOWNSMAN STAFF
The Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library and the Sunrise Rotary Club are getting set for their signal event of the fall — the Friends’ annual giant book sale. Tens of thousands of books and audio-visual materials will cover the tables at the Ktunaxa Gym across from the Library, from Wednesday Sept. 30, through Sunday, Oct. 4. And if you’re looking to In preparation for the sale the
Friends and Sunrise Rotary are looking for books and audio-visual materials for children, teens and adults. Fiction, mystery and history have been the most popular areas of interest in the past but the sale presents over 40 categories of books on a wide range of topics from gardening and cooking to health, sports and biography. Your donations for this sale are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off at the front circu-
lation desk in the library. Pocket books are especially appreciated. Textbooks are accepted if they have been published within the last ten years (2005 and later). At this time encyclopedia sets are not being accepted. Since the advent of computers people have shifted their interest to encyclopedias on line and the old hardcopies just don’t sell.
See LARGEST, Page 3