Forests minister says mill closures not a surprise in B.C.

VANCOUVER -- While British Columbia's forests minister says the closure of two sawmills in the province's interior is not unexpected due to the pine beetle infestation, the union says hundreds of workers are shocked to be losing their jobs.

Steve Thomson said the government has invested more than $880 million dollars to mitigate the impact of the beetle through diversification funding in the years since the pine beetle epidemic took hold.

Thomson, who is on a trade mission to Japan and China, said from Beijing that he sympathizes with the people who will be out of work when Canfor Corp., (TSX:CFP) closes operations in Quesnel and West Fraser shuts its mill in Houston, though both companies have announced provisions for their employees.

The closures are slated for around next March, and both companies have said their timber supply has been wiped out by the pine beetle epidemic that swept through forests in the Interior.

Frank Everitt, president of the United Steelworkers, Local 1-424, said that while Thomson may not have been surprised about the closure announcements, he and the workers did not expect that the mills would be permanently shut down in the towns that are so dependent on forestry jobs.

"Certainly, we knew that the fibre supply was a problem going forward with the pine beetle, but to say that we anticipated a closure this year or next year, that's not accurate from our perspective anyway," he said.

"You can't imagine the effect it has on folks simply because that's the whole community, that's their neighbours. Sometimes you've got two and three generations that work in the mill.

"What we've heard is shock at the announcement," Everitt said of workers who are now wondering where they will work -- whether in the forestry sector or if they'll have to be retrained for other types of jobs.

He said the union will work with the companies and the province in efforts to transition workers to other employment.

"For the folks who just got the announcement there's more to be done," Everitt said of Thomson's comment that the government has invested millions of dollars in dealing with the pine beetle epidemic.

Canfor has said its 209 workers in Quesnel will be offered jobs elsewhere in the company and West Fraser has announced it will help its 225 Houston-based employees to transition into other positions within B.C. and Alberta, where possible.

The companies also said they have agreed to exchange timber rights, with Canfor taking over forest tenures to support its mill in Houston, while West Fraser will acquire timber for its Quesnel sawmill.

Fungus from pine beetles causes trees to be stained blue, but the wood is considered defective and its market value is lower.