100 Mile House bracing for effects of Norbord mill closure

All throughout the Cariboo, the lumber industry has been a major driver of the area’s economy, and employed thousands.

For 100 Mile House Mayor, Mitch Campsall, Norbord Mill announcing an indefinite closure brings serious concerns.

“We’re in a crisis situation. We’re not in just a ‘this sucks’ type of situation. It is a crisis,” he stresses. “We’re probably looking at close to 1,000 people unemployed this summer.”

Citing low supply after the pine beetle epidemic, and the 2017 fires, Norbord also pointed to the high cost of harvesting logs.

Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett says the price of running a business in B.C is high.

“You can’t keep taxing and creating more burden on businesses. Especially when the (selling) price of lumber is low,” she says. “I’ve heard it out there in the street, people saying ‘Well Norbord had a good financial statement.’ Well, you know they’ve got a lot of mills, 11 OSB mills, so one is probably picking up for the other.”

The curtailment means 100 Mile House joins the growing list of B.C communities facing mill shut downs.

In May, Tolko announced a closure for their Quesnel mill, and last week, Vavenby’s Canfor mill followed suit.

While employees certainly feel the brunt of the closures, Barnett says in these situations, it’s also hard on the employer to let workers know.

“When they make these announcements — in fact, I met with one (mill manager) yesterday, and (he said) it was probably the worst day of his life,” she says. “Having to go up and tell everybody that they won’t be working for Lord knows how long.”

Campsall says the district expects the industry loss will be detrimental to smaller businesses, and local government revenue.

“One thing that we do have, and we’re very luck, is that as of July 1, the community of 100 Mile will be out of debt. So that’s going to help if we do lose something like this,” Campsall explains. “We’re talking major dollars, and probably about 30 per cent, or 20 per cent of our taxation will be gone.”

The impact of the mill shutting its doors indefinitely will trickle down to the rest of the community of 1,900.

Debra Maclean and her husband Rod co-own Rod Dillman Contracting, which is one of the many companies contracted by Norbord.

“We only have 30 employees, but the offset of the Norbord 160 goes down to each contractor, to each store owner,” she says. “It just goes down the line. And 100 Mile is in trouble.”

Business owners within the industry like Maclean believe a drop in stumpage fees, which they pay to harvest timber, is needed. Rather than an increase scheduled for the fall.

“If we can get our MLA, and the mayor to step in, and the premier. (John Horgan) needs to start working on the stumpage. It’s going to kill us,” Maclean explains. “We know Vavenby has been done, and they were affected. And I see it happening, but if the premier could step in, he may be able to remedy the situation.”

While there has been no confirmation of a permanent closure, workers in the area hope something can be done in the meantime to see the mill re-open.

by Dylana Milobar

100 Mile House bracing for effects of Norbord mill closure

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