From two-by-fours to biodegradable plastic.

• Author: Ross, Ian

David Ramsay expects to see some re-greening in Northern Ontario's forestry industry

The Natural Resources Minister predicts the industry will look very different from today in the coming years.

It will have a broader product mix, ranging from the ubiquitous two-by-four to the use of wood as an essential ingredient in biodegradable plastics.

Try this one on for size. How about building a car from a tree and a soybean?

"This is where it's headed," says Ramsay.

The Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP and provincial cabinet minister has taken sharp criticism for what some Northerners have called the government's slow response in rolling out $1 billion worth of aid and incentives to save forestry jobs and keep mills open.

High electricity costs, the strength of the Canadian dollar, the U.S. softwood lumber agreement, slumping sales and cheap lumber from global competitors have all been blamed for the industry's problems that have thrown many forestry-dependent communities into economic chaos.

But Ramsay argues, "There's never been as much support given to an industry in this country as what we've done for forestry."

Far from shoring up a "sunset" industry, Ramsay says he's been proactive in implementing almost every recommendation from an industry and communities-driven competitive council from two years ago.

"That report has been my road map. Everything I've done has come from that."

It includes last November's announced $140-million energy rebate market to prop up pulp mills, the last part of the provincial aid package.

In his overview of the industry of the future, Ramsay characterizes it as one producing less newsprint, but more value-added paper. There will be fewer sawmills, but more regionally-based plants with three shifts producing low-cost lumber.

While environmentalists may be pleased that more mill shutdowns mean more space for wildlife sanctuaries, Ramsay predicts the North will be a future source of energy as world fossil fuel reserves run out.

"In 25 years, this industry is going to be (wood-based) chemical industry.

"It's going to be our farmer's fields and our northern forests where Ontario's energy and materials are to come from."

Ramsay says the transition is already underway. Ethanol plants using wood waste will be springing up and technology companies are in the prototype stage of making car door panels from wood waste and soya bean oil. "That is the future. We're going to grow our energy and material. We're not going to pump it out...