The City of Quesnel, together with the Provincial Government, Canfor Corporation, United Steelworkers and many other key community stakeholders are combining their efforts to assist the community, in particular the workers and their families, who have been affected by the closure of Canfor’s Quesnel Sawmill. The announcement of the mill closure was made on Oct 24. Canfor currently employs 209 people directly at its mill operations.
Canfor Corporation has pledged to minimize the impact of the closure on its employees and will offer employees a number of options.
“Everyone in our community who has been impacted by the upcoming mill closure can be confident that the province has taken the lead in partnership with the City of Quesnel on bringing stakeholders together to plan for the future and be there for the people of Quesnel,” said Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, The Honourable Coralee Oakes. “We are doing everything we can to smooth the way and rally to find new opportunities and job placements. Quesnel will survive this change – together we can grow and strengthen the spirit of our community.”
“I’ve spoken with Mayor Sjostrom and assured her that the Province will continue to work closely with the City and provide expertise and support on the ground,” said The Honourable Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour. “Wednesday’s regional economic collaborative is building on our ongoing joint work to identify economic opportunities moving forward.”
"The Province is committed to working with Quesnel and all the other Interior communities impacted by the mountain pine beetle infestation," said Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister, The Honourable Steve Thomson. "We will continue to build on our last 12 years of work in mitigating the environmental impacts and economic impacts of the pine beetle, and work closely with communities on economic diversification opportunities."
“Although this is difficult news for our entire community, it is not unexpected due to the impact of the pine beetle epidemic.” said Mayor Mary Sjostrom. “The City has been actively involved and is committed to transitional planning. We have already been in discussions with the Provincial Government and key community stakeholders to offer our support and assistance to those workers and their families. The City also understands the importance of addressing the needs of all those residents and businesses impacted.”
The Quesnel and Area Economic Collaborative Forum being held today will focus on planning for worker transition. This is the second forum engaging key local stakeholders to help with transition planning for the community.
2 comments:
“Although this is difficult news for our entire community, it is not unexpected due to the impact of the pine beetle epidemic.” said Mayor Mary Sjostrom.
WHAT? So where is consideration for this given in the City's long term planning, especially for infrastructure, and the multicenter?
Is this competence? Leadership? You knew this was coming (you just said so), you knew the multicenter would be less affordable (if at all) as a result, and yet there's no consideration for it in your plans, rhetoric, or your fluffball facebook page.
Most politician just wanna be popular and spend spend spend. Gotta be upbeat and positive to get re-elected. Only way to do this is say everything is just fine, lets take the publics mind of the issues and build something shiny to prove everything is fine.
Things will not change until the public demands it but until now it seems we still want more shiny feel good things rather than face the issues at hand. Especially how on earth are we gonna pay for it.
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