ICFI: Mill closures devastate Canada’s forest industry
Posted by Geoff on January 25th, 2007
This article explains the rampant mill closures in Canada as being rooted in global capitalism. Though the industry is suffering because of a rise in the dollar, increasing energy costs, decreased consumption of lumber products in the U.S., and a global shift in lumber production, the root of the problem lies in the logic of capitalism. Though I would disagree that this consitutes a crisis, Brian Knight writes an excellent article, contextualizing the problems the Canadian lumber industry faces. Especially important is the clear internationalist political line put forward in the article!
I post this in addition to Graham’s post below: Mills won’t get help unless they change: minister.
January 25th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Conference Board of Canada Report on forestry recommends closing small mills,
opening provincial boarders to redirect wood supplies to new super mills.
Communities and workers in Northern Ontario, British Columbia and other provinces are being stripped of their right to make a living from the natural resources they have depended on for the last hundred years or more. Government policies are allowing corporations to pull the rug from under their feet with out even giving them a chance to catch their breath. Unless you experience it personally you will never understand the devastation this causes.
I am not suggesting our governments shouldn’t play ball with multi-nationals. What I am suggesting is communities that have contributed enormously with their blood and sweat to develop these industries in the first place should not be excluded from the game.
It is not just economic realities that are causing hardships in the forest industry but also the actions and inactions of the upper levels of government and the failure of multi-national corporations to for-see the need to adapt, modify and invest in existing facilities, add value and meet the demands of global competition.
Many hydro dams that were originally attached to the mills to provide cheap reliable electricity to power the mills are now being separated to sell onto the grid to the highest bidder. This is also jeopardizing mill operations and leading to many job losses.
Who is feeling the biggest impact of these bad decisions? It is the communities and workers losing the forests that supply their mills and the rivers that power their industries to multi-nationals that are only interested in profit and not interested in exploring other alternatives in support of job creation or community sustainability.
Our natural resources in Canada belong to the people, not the corporations. We need to find solutions that will benefit all Canadians and not just the multi-nationals. We need more visionaries to make the available opportunities come to life within our communities, but opportunity dwindles when communities loose rightful access and benefits to their resources.
Perhaps scale does matter, so lets manufacture on a much bigger scale rather than export our resources in raw form, lets allow resource based communities to play ball on a much bigger scale instead of pursuing a trend that uses them as simply as extraction points, and finally lets all work together on a bigger scale to find solutions that will benefit “all” stake holders.