The Ontario government is providing an $8.8-million loan to St. Marys Paper of Sault Ste. Marie to reopen this December and take back 170 laid-off workers.
The maker of specialty supercalender paper has been struggling in recent years with frequent shutdowns and layoffs because of its reliance on a cyclical U.S. magazine catalogue market. In 2007, the Ontario government announced a $17-million loan to the company, much of it for working capital.
The mill shut down last March laying off 300.
“Pulp and paper mills are critical to the transformation of the forestry sector to a future bio-economy that will create jobs and bring long-term prosperity to Northern Ontario,” said Northern Development, Mines and Forestry minister Michael Gravelle in an Oct. 29 statement.
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