Future of forest industry explored.

• Author: Ubriaco, Gianni
• Position: Mining

Many distinguished representatives from across the North gathered to express their views, concerns, and hopes for the future of their forest industry at the Northwestern Ontario Forest Council's (NOFC) conference in Thunder Bay on Nov. 20. One of those people was Bill Lees, of William L. Lees and Associates Ltd. Lees outlined the economic contribution of the forest industry to northwestern Ontario.

"It is very obvious across this province and across this region that this part of the province is very heavily dependent on the forest industry for its economic welfare," Lees said. "We have to find ways to produce new jobs and e-commerce in our region, and given the fact that our region contains 45 per cent the total provincial forest production industries, it certainly makes a lot of sense to look at the merits and feasibility of expanding secondary manufacturing or value-added possibilities."

"Obviously, developing the value-added remanufacturing opportunities in some sort of symbiotic relationship with the primary industry could lead to the strengthening of the regional economy," Lees added. "But, if we do not make efforts and are not successful in efforts to diversify the economy, we will have further population out-migration."

Ultimately, it is his belief that the forest industry will continue to be the single, most important economic sector in the region's economy.

The mayor of Thunder Bay, Ken Boshcoff, also expressed his views.

"We are all here because we believe in the potential of Northern Ontario," said Boshcoff. "We have all been working very hard to ensure its growth and strengthening of economic base and this is a chance for us to make these representations, learn from each other and see what we can do to make that even stronger."

"Because of the pace of change that is happening in our economic sectors and the international things happening with the softwood lumber (trade issue), all of these things come upon us as tidal waves," Boshcoff added. "But we, as northerners, have got to stay mobilized and organized."

The manager of Longlac Wood Industries, Jamie McPherson, was one of the panelists at the conference. His company owns a mill, which has been operating in the Longlac region...