Keith McGregor

Keith McGregor, manager of the Canadian Forest Products Ltd., Quesnel Division, said the sawmill doesn't usually burn waste this time of year anyway."We have no plans to light things up right now," he said."[The ban] will have zero affect on us."Meanwhile campers in the Cariboo can continue to cozy up to the flames of a warm camp fire as long as people are careful."If everybody uses common sense and follows these rules we'll continue having camp fires in the Cariboo," she said.

Canfor's Alberta regional manager Keith McGregor said the company started seriously investigating the possibility in September and the decision was made in late November."We were making sure we turned over every stone," McGregor said."There is just not enough fibre.We looked at private purchases but that is a small portion of the total and there in not a lot of that out there."Canfor worked closely with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development to try and find any untapped supply of fibre in the area but the resources just aren't there, he said.Given the situation, the company had no other alternative but to close the Hines Creek mill."We had two mills starving for wood.It doesn't help to have both mills running inefficiently," McGregor said.
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"You just can't run a mill on one shift anymore," McGregor said."[Grande Prairie] also happens to be closer to our markets.Grande Prairie is closer to where everything is."Canfor also has commitments in Grande Prairie partnering with the Canadian Gas and Electricity Company on the Ecopower Project.The Ecopower Project will burn the sawdust, bark and other waste material from the mill to generate power, McGregor explained.After the Hines Creek mill closes the site may be used as a collection point for logs heading to Grande Prairie, McGregor said, but most likely the equipment will be auctioned off and the site will be remediated.Dunvegan-Central Peace MLA Hector Goudreau said it is unfortunate that Canfor is closing but it is not the role of government to get involved."It's a business decision by Canfor," he said."There is not a lot the government can do directly or indirectly."When he heard the news, Goudreau said he looked into the forestry agreement between the province and Canfor.

Fairview Post , Canfor regional manager Keith McGregor said the company expected and isn't concerned with the possibility of a legal challenge to the company's decision to close its Hines Creek mill and move the raw logs to its mill in Grande Prairie.The Village of Hines Creek, MD of Clear Hills, Town of Fairview and MD of Fairview have hired an Edmonton-based law firm to look into getting a legal injunction to stop the logs from going across the Peace River."We're okay with them exhausting all avenues.It's not something we didn't expect," McGregor said."The biggest opposition is to the logs leaving the area."McGregor said there is a lot of misunderstanding about Canfor's timber quotas.Canfor has two quota agreements in the area, one for 160,000 metres a year and one for 50,000 metres a year.The larger of the two quota agreements never had a ‘pertinencey' clause restricting it to the Hines Creek mill, McGregor said.The smaller agreement did but was changed as a matter of course, he added."Eighty out of 88 [quotas in Alberta] have been converted to non-pertinencey," McGregor said."B.C. changed all of their's a year ago."Canfor paid $5 million for the 50,000 quota, McGregor added, and the pertinencey clause was only included to prevent interested B.C. mills from buying the timber and trucking it out of Alberta."We've stayed in contact with the municipal districts.We're not concealing anything," McGregor said."It's all public information."Safety concerns have been raised about the volume of logging trucks which will be crossing the Dunvegan Bridge."We've put a lot of thought into that issue.It works out to about 5,000 trucks a year," McGregor said.It may not mean any more trucks because Canfor already hauls the finished product and waste wood from Hines Creek to Grande Prairie anyway, McGregor said.However, he said, the company realizes logging trucks are large, imposing vehicles.The Dunvegan Bridge is wide enough for two of the 10-foot-wide log trucks to pass each other, he added.Regardless, he added, the drivers will be required to travel through the Dunvegan area slowly and with caution.As for wear and tear on the highways, McGregor added, Canfor contributes millions of dollars a year in taxes to the province.In addition, he added, the oil and gas industries still has a greater impact on the highway than Canfor traffic.Those who would paint Canfor as a villain haven't looked at the facts fairly, McGregor said."It hurts to hear people say bad things about a company that stuck with it for 35 years.It could have closed 10 years ago.Canfor made a substantial investment into Hines Creek and we got 10 more years out of it," McGregor said."It's not something we did lightly.It was a very difficult decision."In addition to ensuring the long-term survivability of the Grande Prairie mill, the move will mean Canfor is using the resource more efficiently at the newer, larger facility, he said."You can't run a restaurant without any food.And you can't run a mill without wood," he added.

Keith McGregor

Division Manager

Phone: (250) 997 3271Fax: (250) 997 2568

Canfor's Alberta regional manager Keith McGregor said the company started seriously investigating the possibility in September and the decision was made in late November."We were making sure we turned over every stone," McGregor said."There is just not enough fibre.We looked at private purchases but that is a small portion of the total and there in not a lot of that out there."Canfor worked closely with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development to try and find any untapped supply of fibre in the area but the resources just aren't there, he said.Given the situation, the company had no other alternative but to close the Hines Creek mill."We had two mills starving for wood.It doesn't help to have both mills running inefficiently," McGregor said.