TERRACE BAY — There’s something to be said about the resilience and perseverance of folks living in Northern Ontario, especially in situations like the one that Terrace Bay currently faces.
Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles took to the Northshore circuit this week, making a meaningful stop in the township of Terrace Bay.
She also stopped in Schreiber and Nipigon.
In Terrace Bay, however, Stiles had the opportunity to hear from concerned residents affected by the recent idling of the Terrace Bay AV pulp mill.
Speaking with TBT News, Stiles said that after meeting with union representatives, town residents, and representatives from communities near Terrace Bay – including Schreiber and Pays Plat First Nation – she can understand why everyone is worried, anxious, and in search of answers.
“People have a lot of questions. I think the company hasn’t been very clear about what’s going on at all and I don’t think the government is treating this with urgency.
"We have to do something and we have to do it quickly. The government has to step in. We need to know whether this is really an issue of the company wanting to sell off or if they’re really looking at what they need to get going again, because this mill cannot close,” Stiles said.
In terms of solutions, Stiles said that “everything is on the table” and the official opposition is working diligently to not only mediate the situation but ensure the longevity of employee and residents’ livelihoods.
She stressed that letting the people speak for themselves is paramount.
“This shouldn’t be imposed from above. We’ve got to hear from workers, from the community, we’re hearing from people in the chamber of commerce here, small businesses, certainly the local councillors and mayors about what they want to see happen,” she said.
Local 665 USW president, Stephen Downey, said any help that can get the mill running again is welcome and much sought after.
He also noted that although the mill has some issues, it’s still in relatively fine shape.
What the mill needs, he said, is some serious investment.
“We certainly have deficiencies in the mill. A lot of capital will take care of it, but for the most part it’s a sound mill, it will produce,” he said.
One such deficiency is a non-functional boiler that will need to be replaced and that likely hastened AV Terrace Bay’s decision to idle the mill indefinitely.
“Definitely one boiler down. They’re, I believe, going to be laid up – which is the proper way to layup a boiler when you’re not running it – in hopes that it’ll restart," Downey said.
"We have our typical maintenance things. There’s projects that are probably near their date that have to be addressed. Other than that, a few dollars in the right area and we should be able to open back up."
With no word or direction from Terrace AV, employees and residents are disappointed with how the company has been handling the situation – and Downey said that some have even started to find other work.
“For the most part, I know I’m in the maintenance department and a lot of them have moved on to jobs already, so yeah people are going. There’s a lot opening up around here in the mining sector and they will not hesitate to go,” he said.
Stiles spoke similarly about the potential losses Terrace Bay and the region as a whole could face with this ongoing development.
“I was talking to some local business owners here who said, ‘look, we don’t need Doug Ford to ride in on a tractor or anything like that, we have the ability here – we have the skills and the people to get the work done here to keep this mill going.
"What we need is a government to work with the company, get the company back to the table to explain to people here what’s actually happening,'" Stiles said.
"Again, the uncertainty is really overwhelming for people, nobody knows whether they’re going to have a job to come back to and I think, from our perspective as the opposition working with the government, we want to bring confidence to Ontario. We want Ontario to be a place where people come for jobs and opportunities – and in Northern Ontario, it’s a beautiful place to live, it’s a great place to live, but we need to make sure those jobs and opportunities are here so that people stay,” Stiles said.
And speaking of staying, Stiles observed that one of the greatest barriers to retaining people in the North and in other communities across the province has been affordable housing.
“We’ve got to invest in things like the housing that people in these communities need. One of the greatest disincentives to attracting people to work in communities like Terrace Bay is the lack of affordable housing. We hear that all across the province. There’s a role for government to play in that - we can’t just leave it up to the private sector to decide when and where.”
Downey noted that the mill idling is nothing new to the residents of Terrace Bay and that as long as the mill gets shutdown correctly – if that ends up being the outcome – then they can weather the storm no problem.
Even still, Stiles said that the Ontario NDP are committed to avoiding the need for a shutdown.
“I think the most important piece of this is however it happens – and we’re willing to look at everything, worker-ownership in some way for sure – but, look, at the end of the day it has to stay open. This pulp mill is really important. It’s unique in many ways. Also, it’s important to the broader economy.
"What’s really striking to me is it’s not just in Northern Ontario where we have the economic benefit of this pulp mill – it goes right down all across the province. So if this mill closes, it’s certainly going to impact families, community members here in Terrace Bay, and in Schreiber and in other communities nearby. It’s going to have economic impacts that are much more far-reaching and we need the government to come to the table with us to actually find some solutions,” Stiles said.
The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated, as far as Stiles is concerned.
“We can’t wait. There are some really important reasons why.
"First of all, the cost of getting it up and going again is just going to go up, so that’s really important. But the other really important issue is just like every other industry in Ontario, we’re really working hard here to try to attract people to come and work in these communities who have the skills and so you’ve got that here –you’ve got lots of new people that have come into Terrace Bay and surrounding communities. We can’t lose them, right? We can’t lose them to other industries or other communities. We need to try to act quickly so we don’t lose that, so that this mill continues to bring in profit.
"I think for people here it’s all about ‘how do we keep this community running?’ - because if we lose the mill, then we lose the backbone of this community, of many other surrounding communities but again also spin-off impacts on the broader economy in Ontario,” she said.
Stiles also commended the hard work of MPP Lise Vaugeois in advocating for the people affected by the mill idling and gathering information about what it will take to get the mill up-and-running again.
Stiles stressed that it’s all about teamwork.
“People are tired of hearing us and hearing the government say, ‘Well, we’re just going to do things one way.’ We have to come together for the good of the community and for the good of the people of Ontario."