FORT FRANCES – NEWS – On Friday, February 8, the Town of Fort Frances received correspondence from Resolute Forest Products which suggests the company’s default intention is to sell the Fort Frances mill to a “community redeveloper” — i.e., to demolish it.
“The mill is a key economic asset for our community,” states Councillor Douglas Judson. “I have little confidence that the open bidding process Resolute has announced for the mill is intended to result in a sale to an operator of the facility who would want access to wood fibre in the local Crossroute Forest.”
The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry — John Yakabuski — will be in Kenora on Monday, February 11. The Minister has robust authority over the license for the Crossroute Forest that is currently held by Resolute. That license clearly specifies that wood from the Crossroute is — first and foremost — intended to fuel the Fort Frances mill. Resolute shuttered this mill in 2013 but continued to harvest wood from our forest to take elsewhere.
“Fort Frances area communities and their residents are right to have significant concerns about how the process for the sale of the mill is unfolding, and whether their best interests and the public policy underlying the forest license is being respected” adds Judson. “As such, I am refining the attached draft resolution for consideration at tomorrow’s meeting of Fort Frances town council as a non-agenda item.”
Tonight I am tabling this resolution before @fort_frances town council. It calls on the province and Resolute FP to ensure the sale of our shuttered paper mill respects our community's interest in our local forest and this key economic asset. #onpoli @JYakabuskiMPP pic.twitter.com/sk7ATKD8P2
— Douglas Judson (@dwjudson) February 11, 2019
For further background on this topic:
Sustainable Forest Licence by on Scribd
