Hundreds of jobs lost as Canfor makes cuts in northern B.C.

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British Columbia forestry company Canfor Corp. said it will close a sawmill in Bear Lake, reduce production at a pulp mill in Prince George and suspend plans to build a new mill in Houston, affecting hundreds of jobs. work in three communities in northern British Columbia.

The permanent closure of the Polar sawmill in Bear Lake, located about 75 kilometers north of Prince George, would affect 180 employees. Operations at the factory have been restricted since January.

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The company has seen timber harvests decline dramatically in recent years, with the 2023 harvest 42 percent below the allowable cut, a level not seen since the 1960s, said Canfor CEO Don Kayne.

“While this decline is partly the result of natural disturbances (particularly beetle infestations and wildfires), it is also the result of the cumulative impact of policy changes and increased regulatory complexity,” he said in a statement. Thursday.

“These choices and changes have hampered our ability to consistently access sufficient affordable fiber to support our manufacturing facilities and have forced the closure or reduction of many forestry operations, including our Polar sawmill.”

Another 220 jobs will be lost with the indefinite reduction of one of two production lines at the Northwood pulp mill in Prince George, which has 450 employees and converts wood chips into pulp and paper products. The line will close its operations starting in July.

Kevin Edgson, chief executive of Canfor Pulp, a subsidiary of Canfor, said closures and reductions of several sawmills had meant there were not enough wood chips to meet operations.

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“Despite extensive efforts, including expansion well beyond our traditional operating region, there is simply not enough residual fiber to supply the current production capacity of all of our operations,” he said in a statement.

Canfor also said it would suspend plans to build a new sawmill in Houston, eight months after announcing the plan to build a $200 million “state-of-the-art” modernized facility that was to replace a sawmill that closed in January. 2023.

The proposed new factory would have employed around 100 fewer people than the factory it was replacing.

At the time, Kayne said the announcement underscores the company’s commitment to Houston and BC. On Thursday, Kayne said the company was suspending plans for the Houston plant “as we are not confident that an investment of this magnitude can be successful at this time.”

The British Columbia-based company reported a loss of $117.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, ending what it said was a challenging year marked by weak global lumber market conditions.

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