10 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer
June 19, 2009
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Mill closure leads town hall discussion By Cayla Gabruck Pioneer Staff Stephen Mackie, general manager of the Canadian Forest Products operation in Radium, addressed a number of concerns over the impending closure of Radium’s major industry at the first Village of Radium town hall meeting last weekend. The discussion came two weeks after Canfor announced the closure of three sawmill operations in British Columbia, including Radium’s. The shutdown, said to be indefinite, is the direct result of a serious and lengthy downturn in the lumber market. The closure will leave 167 local workers unemployed. “Right now our priority is to bring the operation down in a safe and orderly manner,” Mr. Mackie said. The biggest concern of residents was the exact date of the shutdown. “Right now we are starting to process out all of our inventory,” Mr. Mackie replied. “We are winding down logging and are just finishing off deliveries from our operations in the bush.” Harvesting activities, he said, will be complete within days. The next step, Mr. Mackie said, is the systematic closure of the mill. The closure of the sawmill will be complete by June 26th and the planer will be down by August 7th. He estimated that the product would be fully shipped by the end of September. Councillor Brent Frederickson asked Mr. Mackie what Canfor is doing for its employees in light of the shutdown. Mr. Mackie replied that they are doing their best to help workers by making employment counselling avail-
able and looking at redeployment opportunities for personnel to other Canfor divisions. According to Mr. Mackie, the Canfor facility has an annual local payroll of $14 million.
Council prefers Bear Aware Radium resident David Pacey questioned the effectiveness of the village’s Bear Aware program, suggesting the village employ Karelian Bear Dogs to chase out the ursine wanderers. Councillor Frederickson said he would much rather educate the public than hire dogs to chase the bears out of town. “The Bear Aware program is not only about making sure your garbage is secure, the fruit is picked off your trees and taking your bird feeders down,” Mr. Frederickson said. “The most important part of the program is that when you are walking around, pay careful attention – make sure that you are Bear Aware and you acknowledge that you are in bear country, and you might see one or come close to one.” Radium Chief Administrator Mark Read added that the village allocated $5,000 to the bear education program this year.
Radium to consider truck ban Darren Thompson asked council to place restrictions on logging trucks and tractor-trailers on village side streets. Mayor Dee Conklin said council would consider the restriction when it updates the village’s Official Community Plan later this year.
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