Community members and economic development leaders know Chapleau has many of the same economic challenges as other communities throughout the North. It also has some unique opportunities.
“Our mainstay is the rail industry and the wood manufacturing industry,” says Sylvie Albert, economic development officer for the Town of Chapleau. “Chapleau, as a northern community, is looking at diversifying its economic base.”
One of the most recent announcements involved the sale of the Weyerhaeuser mill to Quebec-based Tembec. On Nov. 3, Tembec announced it was buying the mill for $26 million (Cdn), including working capital.
The Chapleau sawmill has a softwood allocation of approximately 524,000 cubic metres per year, a production capacity of 100 million board feet of lumber annually and employs close to 140 people. The acquisition will boost Tembec’s annual lumber capacity to over 1.8 billion board feet, including two Nexfor sawmills located in Northwestern Quebec.
A strategic plan put together by the community a few years ago identified the priorities for the community for years to follow, including five initiatives for 2003/2004.
Topping the list is branding the community based on one of its strongest attractions, the game preserve. The plan is to brand the area as the “gateway” to the largest Crown game preserve in the world, says Albert.
“We have a series of projects going on with that,” she says. “This year, we are trying to encourage more entrepreneurs to offer more products in the Crown game preserve, such as guiding, canoeing, ATV riding and so on.”
Another project looks at more value-added options for its local wood industry.
Although Chapleau Co-generation Ltd. uses some of the shavings and bark the mill produces, Albert says much of the material has also been shipped out for disposal or use elsewhere in the province. Albert says the community has been looking at a number of options and is working with a company to transform the shavings into other products. There are other uses for the material such as agricultural uses, and mixing it with certain plastics for decking.
“On the value-added end of it we’re infants, but we are looking at what opportunities there are and how we can get some industries to settle in Chapleau by taking advantage of the resources we have,” she says.
She says the community is also looking at the possibility of a second co-generation plant for the community.
