The mayor of Grand Forks may be a funeral home director, but Everett Baker says he won’t be planning the funeral for one of the city’s biggest industries.
Baker travelled to Ottawa last week, where he met with members of parliament and industry executives over the indefinite closure of the Interfor sawmill.
He is pushing for a softwood lumber agreement with the United States and for financial support for workers affected by the shutdown.
Baker, who paid for the trip himself, said he met with politicians of all stripes, including Conservative leader Pierre Pollievre.
“The fact that he is the leader of the opposition and therefore has the right to put pressure on government, it was a worthwhile conversation,” Baker told city council this morning, adding that the met with Pollievre for “probably 15 or 20 minutes.”
Baker said Pollievre had a “good grasp” of what Grand Forks was facing and suggested that local MP Helena Konanz raise the matter during question period.
“I was encouraged by the cross-party and cross-jurisdictional recognition of the forestry is vital to rural communities and that federal action is urgently needed,” Baker said.
“The message was clear: our forestry workers and communities need results, not rhetoric. I will continue to pressure Ottawa and make forestry a national priority and to ensure that Grand Forks has a strong voice at that table.”
Baker said he returned home feeling encouraged that Grand Forks is now on radar of federal officials, and is being used as an example of the plight of forest-dependent communities.
“I asked Interfor at my last meeting, ‘should I be arranging a funeral for Interfor here in Grand Forks? ‘And I was directly answered, ‘absolutely not,’ that this mill is extremely important to them.”
Baker said the positions at Interfor are well-paid and often available to young people, so the notion that employees may have to consider leaving the community “greatly concerns me and should concern us as a council.”
Interfor announced in September that the Grand Forks will would be curtailed for three weeks as part of company-wide plans to cut production by 12 per cent by December.
The shutdown has since been extended until further notice and the company now says it will reduce lumber production in the third quarter by 26 per cent.
The company cited “persistent market headwinds and the continued impact of U.S. trade actions.” Tariffs and duties on US-bound softwood exports now total 45 per cent.
The Grand Forks mill has about 150 employees and an estimated 300 contractors are also affected by the closure.
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