Dateline May 09, 2008

Mackenzie, British Columbia

Mackenzie, British Columbia is one of a number of BC’s current small cities dealing with an economic-epidemic in BC that has seen a province wide curtailment in BC’s entire forest sector.

Today, dependent-citizens, scared pulp mill workers and probably a relieved Pope and Talbot, now that the final curtain is falling on their bankrupt pulp mill in BC’s northern interior, could see them actually net a profit with the sale. The closure was required by creditors when they did not agree to extend financing for the mill, which released the axe man’s blade to fall upon the exposed neck of Mackenzie’s main employer.

Unfortunately, the sale of the Mackenzie mill comes at the expense of the 4,700 people living and working in one of BC’s most beautiful settings as upwards of 1,000 people in the city will be affected by the sale of the mill and the subsequent trickle-down job losses due to the closure of the mill as businesses that have traditionally relied upon the forest sector loose business and eventually die as well.

Officials for the city of Mackenzie say the community has to diversity the town’s economy if the town is to survive the current crisis and that a plan of action to diversify the town’s economy into the tourism and mining sectors is currently being put into motion.

For their part, Pope and Talbot has stated that the mill could be idled temporarily for six to twelve weeks as attempts to find a buyer for their bankrupt pulp mill continue.

Prince George North MLA Pat Bell has been the only governmental voice heard above the sound of the pulp mills closure, stating that the BC government is currently working with Pope and Talbot, receivers, and financial institutions to attempt to salvage the existing deal with the Sinarmas Group, which recently collapsed. He indicated that the province has been working to make sure displaced workers and communities, like Mackenzie, hit hard by the collapse of BC’s forest sector, receive the programs and resources they need to cope with the current situation.

This shut down has also affected work at Nanaimo and Oregon mills, but the company had no comment about this.

Mackenzie is a beautiful city, many of my friends from high school and other moments of my life, currently live and use to work in Mackenzie, and with this closure they will be forced to leave the city to find work. Will this see the death of one of BC’s northern cities? Only time will tell, but they are a hardy bunch up north, they take life’s ups and downs well and will rise to fight and work again.

The forest sector will rebound eventually, and they will find new industries to employ their citizens, but in the meantime the government officials tasked with trying to alleviate this situation need to get down to work and help those dealing with the loss of their livelihood.

People in BC need to work together to bring BC into a new future with promise for all British Columbians’, the politicians need to listen to the people and move forward to policies that can help British Columbians’ cope with the problems in our forest sector and for a time we need to put making a profit aside in favour of more important issues, otherwise well all be in a pickle, not just the forest industry.