Hundreds of Iroquois Falls residents packed a meeting hall this week to vent their anger over the potential sale of three local dams by AbitibiBowater.
The sale of the dams, associated with the company's paper operations, would jeopardize the profitability and thus the viability of the site, critics say.
Political leaders point to the example of Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who expropriated AbitibiBowater's water rights at its shuttered Grand Falls Mill, as an appropriate course of action.
"The province would be completely irresponsible to allow Abitibi to get away with burning the furniture just to heat the house," said Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins-James Bay, in a release.