It was another kick in the stomach for a community already on economic hard times.
In August and again in September of 2002, Kirkland Lake received a double blow with the elimination of a total of over 60 jobs from Tembec’s Kenogami mill.
Several market considerations had contributed to the closure, including an over production of lumber products on the market and the impact of 27 per cent tariffs on lumber exports to the United States have all had an impact on the economic viability of the mill.
The blow was softened by the promise of Tembec’s vice-president of corporate relations, Charles Gagnon, to re-open the mill. On Sept. 8 of this year, that promise was kept by the announcement of 30 jobs coming back to the mill. This announcement followed a $1-million investment in new equipment for the plant.
“The startup went as expected,” says Tembec executive vice-president Jim Lopez. “We’re starting the mill up with a different mix of lumber products to try and satisfy more of a domestic market versus an American market where we’ve had problems with the softwood lumber duties.
“We’re hoping and expecting that’s going to be a winning formula. I think now it’s just a matter of running the mill and trying to meet the (production and sales) targets that we’ve set up,” he says adding there is no plans at this point to add more jobs.
“For now, we’re just going to run it as is and see how it goes,” says Lopez.
He says there was considerable public response to the announcement, some of it constructive and some of it not, and all was considered when Tembec began planning for its reopening.
Kirkland Lake director of economic development Don Studholme applauds the announcement as a confidence boost for the community.
“Tembec is a significant employer, but the impact is not only the employees and what they pay them, but the money that Tembec spends on equipment and services that creates a spin-off in the community,” he says.
“Whenever you have an employer creating 10 to 30 jobs, it’s going to have a positive effect in the community.”
In the long term, Lopez says Tembec is considering its options for the mill, including the likelihood of some kind of value-added manufacturing of wood products. By additional manufacturing, it eliminates the concern over import tariffs.
“Those plans and analysis are continuing. Those have been in the works for a while now and we haven’t thrown those out just because the mill has started up,” he says.
