Ryan Strome Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 After months of job cuts and bad news, employees at Tolko Industries' Kelowna mill learned on Friday the mill will close permanently Jan. 8. A total of 174 employees including 156 hourly and 18 salaried workers received severance notice. In a statement from the company, vice-president Troy Connolly blamed the closure on high log prices which make the mill's products uncompetitive. "We know our people in Kelowna have done everything in their power to make the mill successful," Connolly said. "They have gone above and beyond. "Sadly, this has nothing to do with them or their efforts. Unfortunately, with B.C. log costs, the mill is no longer cost-competitive," he said. The news comes with 127 employees at Tolko's Kelowna mill on indefinite layoff since August. Earlier in the year the company permanently eliminated an entire second shift of 90 workers. Union president Pat McGregor, said the United Steelworkers Local 1-423 was busy handling questions about severance pay details for the Tolko employees Friday. They also want to know if they can access a $69-million B.C. government program recently created to aid job transition for Interior forest industry workers. McGregor predicted the mill closure will have a trickle-down effect on Kelowna's economy. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5353728 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 well $&!#, thats not good. I can't understand why BC can't get its act together for helping and creating more value added companies in this sector. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Strome Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said: well $&!#, thats not good. I can't understand why BC can't get its act together for helping and creating more value added companies in this sector. Those were good paying jobs in a very beautiful region. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 1 minute ago, Ryan Strome said: Those were good paying jobs in a very beautiful region. Horgan is robbing money from other areas to supposedly help this sector.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post #Canucks Posted November 10, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 10, 2019 8 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said: Horgan is robbing money from other areas to supposedly help this sector.... Horgan is an idiot. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Strome Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 35 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said: Horgan is robbing money from other areas to supposedly help this sector.... It was my understanding he was going to help logging and mills and sure I'm not totally up to speed but it seems to be the opposite in BC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Just now, Ryan Strome said: It was my understanding he was going to help logging and mills and sure I'm not totally up to speed but it seems to be the opposite in BC. Shocking how politicians go against what they say :/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Green Building Posted November 10, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 10, 2019 Well $&!#, of course the logs are expensive, after all, it's not like they grow on trees. Our forest industry has been &^@#ed from day 1 with Honest Bob Sommers heading the Ministry of Lands, Forests and Mines back in the 50's (at least he was jailed for his bribe acceptance) and it hasn't looked back. We should be rolling in riches as a province, but all we can do is cut logs into cants and ship them elsewhere so someone else can have a job. It's BS. Curtailment is BS. Hopefully our pulp mills can hold out a little longer than our ever-closing mills. 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbriggs Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 53 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said: After months of job cuts and bad news, employees at Tolko Industries' Kelowna mill learned on Friday the mill will close permanently Jan. 8. A total of 174 employees including 156 hourly and 18 salaried workers received severance notice. In a statement from the company, vice-president Troy Connolly blamed the closure on high log prices which make the mill's products uncompetitive. "We know our people in Kelowna have done everything in their power to make the mill successful," Connolly said. "They have gone above and beyond. "Sadly, this has nothing to do with them or their efforts. Unfortunately, with B.C. log costs, the mill is no longer cost-competitive," he said. The news comes with 127 employees at Tolko's Kelowna mill on indefinite layoff since August. Earlier in the year the company permanently eliminated an entire second shift of 90 workers. Union president Pat McGregor, said the United Steelworkers Local 1-423 was busy handling questions about severance pay details for the Tolko employees Friday. They also want to know if they can access a $69-million B.C. government program recently created to aid job transition for Interior forest industry workers. McGregor predicted the mill closure will have a trickle-down effect on Kelowna's economy. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5353728 Im from 100 Mile house and we have lost 2 out of our 3 mills this summer and are hurting real bad in this town and my beef is why have the public sector has not laid off any forestry workers here? How can the private sector loose 400 jobs in the south cariboo and the public sector looses 0. Serious buills@#t thats what this is. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Sbriggs Posted November 10, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 10, 2019 40 minutes ago, #Canucks said: Horgan is an idiot. I'll second that and add the NDP are all idiots 1 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attila Umbrus Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Multiple industries in BC are suffering, it's sad to see. Fishing had a hard year, lumber has been hit really hard, oil/gas limping along, mining is up and down...I wonder if we could make protesting an industry? It seems like they have been very successful lately...it's like there is a hand at play that is systematically shutting our industries down and squeezing them out of being competitive in other markets. We are a very resource rich province yet we are getting shut down all over the place in multiple industries it's a head scratcher. Then again we have shown to be willing to sell our goods for absolute dirt cheap to China and the US and rob ourselves of our own valuable product. I wish there was a way to balance things out? I'm tired of selling unprocessed logs over to Asia, we clear cut our land for them and barely make a living at it. Boom Bust Boom Bust...it's gotta stop. I'm in no way smart enough to figure out things such as global economy...but there has to be a better way!?... Natural gas and oil same thing, US has us by the balls. They get our product for cheap and then blend it with theirs and sell it all over the world now for top dollar... Canada in general needs to take a step back and re-group. And what about our automotive sector? They've been given the scorched earth treatment too...anyways i'm ranting because i'm an industry worker and I just feel cornered about what to do next. Just waiting for my industry to completely drop out. It's a shame we can't be proud of the resources we have. Instead we seem to apologize for what we have and give it all away for nothing. Shamefull. Sorry to hear about anyone involved with the Tolko shut down. I do really feel for you. All the best. We all are just trying to support our famility and put food on the table. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Strome Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 34 minutes ago, Sbriggs said: Im from 100 Mile house and we have lost 2 out of our 3 mills this summer and are hurting real bad in this town and my beef is why have the public sector has not laid off any forestry workers here? How can the private sector loose 400 jobs in the south cariboo and the public sector looses 0. Serious buills@#t thats what this is. Ouch sorry to hear that. I was there like ten years ago and it seemed slow at that time can only imagine what those closures have caused. Hope the region rebounds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIBdaQUIB Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 1 hour ago, #Canucks said: Horgan is an idiot. Disagree. If he was an idiot, he wouldn't be as dangerous and destructive. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIBdaQUIB Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 38 minutes ago, Sbriggs said: Im from 100 Mile house and we have lost 2 out of our 3 mills this summer and are hurting real bad in this town and my beef is why have the public sector has not laid off any forestry workers here? How can the private sector loose 400 jobs in the south cariboo and the public sector looses 0. Serious buills@#t thats what this is. Simple...government taking care of those that vote for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofsurrey Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 BC Liberal Party destroyed our province. BC NDP just continuing the destruction..... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 11 minutes ago, DIBdaQUIB said: Simple...government taking care of those that vote for them. if the centre-right can ever get its act together in BC again we might see some more positive industry developments. I've never understood why there isn't much more value added forestry products coming out of BC 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lock Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) 12 minutes ago, kingofsurrey said: BC Liberal Party destroyed our province. BC NDP just continuing the destruction..... This is the thing when the NDP were voted in. I knew that anywhere outside of Vancouver and the island would be more ignored. The NDP are focused only on certain parts of BC while neglecting everything else. This is why the Liberals are so popular up north. We at least know stuff will be done up north. Also, don't get me wrong, I'm not sugar-coating the Liberals either. I'm more just stating my observations. Edited November 10, 2019 by The Lock 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofsurrey Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 With BC wages now the lowest in Canada.... and traditional resource industries collapsing... Foreign money ruling the province / destroying real estate affordability.... since the BC Liberal Party sold us all out.. BC is really hurting right now. Look at massive strikes and job actions the new norm in BC. Time for a new political option in BC . We surely need one. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Canucks Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) 16 minutes ago, kingofsurrey said: BC Liberal Party destroyed our province. BC NDP just continuing the destruction..... First off I don’t think the Liberal party is all good. I don’t think they destroyed our province. They had a huge reserve fund that the NDP blew through. The liberals were creating 50,000 jobs. Our economy was literally thriving. The port man bridge tolls were completely warranted. ( The traffic is back to being so bad. It use to be the fast way in and out of the City all you had to do way pay! They created new ways to travel if you did not want to pay. It was a no brainer. But the fact that this was most likely the reason people voted for the NDP because they did not want to pay is shameful tbh.) Life was not perfect but we were trending in the right direction. BC was literally the best province to live in. The last time the NDP took over they destroyed us. This time they are doing the same thing but slower Because the economy was so good when they took over. It’s almost like people need to realize after the NDP take over that the Liberals are the best option for BC. As I’m typing this it makes me upset to know that we could be partially through the new bridge construction for the Massey tunnel. But the NDP took that away too and paid millions in fees to cancel those construction projects. Ughhhh it was suppose to be 10 lanes. Now that’s planning for the future. Side note: If BC had an established Conservative party, I would vote conservative. Just like I do in the federal election. Edited November 10, 2019 by #Canucks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofsurrey Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 1 minute ago, #Canucks said: First off I don’t think the Liberal party is all good. I don’t think they destroyed our province. They had a huge reserve fund that the NDP blew through. The liberals were creating 50,000 jobs. Our economy was literally thriving. The port man bridge tolls were completely warranted. ( The traffic is back to being so bad. It use to be the fast way in and out of the City all you had to do way pay! They created new ways to travel if you did not want to pay. It was a no brainer. But the fact that this was most likely the reason people voted for the NDP because they did not want to pay is shameful tbh.) Life was not perfect but we were trending in the right direction. BC was literally the best province to live in. The last time the NDP took over they destroyed us. This time they are doing the same thing but slower Because the economy was so good when they took over. It’s almost like people need to realize after the NDP take over that the Liberals are the best option for BC. Side note: If BC had an established Conservative party, I would vote conservative. Just like I do in the federal election. BC Liberals destroyed our province. Ruined our great public education system. Destroyed our public health care quality / hospitals. Wiped out affordable housing / rentals. Tolling one group of citizens in our province was a sad joke - so happy it is removed. It will take BC the next 20 years to recover from the damage the BC Liberal party wrecked on our once great province. 1 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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