Bi-annual conference sheds light on Timmins economy; forestry, mining firms share concerns.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: TIMMINS - Conference notes

Although the "heart of gold" beating in the City of Timmins is shining much brighter than the prospects of the local forestry industry, representatives from both shared concerns at the recent bi-annual Timmins Regional Economic Outlook conference.

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Held in late May at the Porcupine campus of Northern College, the local chamber of commerce-led conference served to highlight business successes and suggestions, starting with the ailing forestry industry.

Dan Dedo, manager of Canadian woodlands for Grant Forest Products told the crowd that the U.S. housing market, a prime target of Ontario's oriented strand board (OSB), has taken a staggering dive in recent years. Having reached a high of nearly 1.8 million housing permits in late 2005, the U.S. market slipped to 600,000 permits in March 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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This represents just one-third of the permits issued just three years ago. What's more, 100 per cent of Ontario's OSB mills saw curtailments in 2007, as compared to the 30 per cent of United States OSB mills which saw curtailments in that same period.

John Kapel Jr. of Little John Enterprises, who has long argued against the lack of local participation in provincial wood allocation, said the Ontario government needs to take a stronger role in supporting forestry. In particular, he says the province needs to actively support and promote secondary and value added forestry industries in order to help them weather the economic storm.

These concerns over lack of government support were echoed by Rob Tomchick, woodlands manager for AbitibiBowater's Iroquois Falls operations. With forest products playing an instrumental role in the economies of the North, the industry needs the provincial government to champion them much in the same way as it champions the automotive and wine industries in southern Ontario, Tomchick argues.

This matches up with many of the other measures the provincial government should pursue to try and reduce the many challenges the industry continues to face, he says. These include bureaucratic red tape and high energy prices which continue to hobble the viability of many forestry operations.

All is not doom and gloom. Dedo says the future outlook for OSB is a positive one, with global demand for wood projected to grow significantly in the coming decades. In the next 20 years, the global gross domestic product is slated to double, with per capita incomes in...