Natural Resources Committee on May 30th, 2023

[John Williams]

We've had nothing other than that, quite frankly.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

As far as reviews, there have been no other concerns or flags raised. Everything has been processed under normal due course both on the security side of things and in regard to the regulatory side. Is that fair to say?

[John Williams]

Yes, it is. Of course, when we did the Domtar transaction—I'm probably closer to that—patently, our board did a lot of due diligence on Paper Excellence before they even agreed to engage with Paper Excellence as the potential seller, as did a number of lending institutions.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That would have been a U.S. regulatory review at that point in time too—not just Canada.

[John Williams]

It was both.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I come from Prince Albert. You know how excited we are and how sad we were when the mill shut down in the past. We were under the impression that there would be nobody coming back to that mill, yet you came in and purchased that mill.

What do you see for the future in that region? We have an OSB plant now opening up because of the pulp mill. We have a furniture manufacturer opening up. We have trucking companies reopening dealerships for sales and stuff like that. How does that cluster work?

[John Williams]

Obviously, what you want to do is use as much of the tree as you can, preferably all of the tree, other than the roots. It's really about being efficient in that way. That's why a pulp mill is very much an anchor for a lot of that, as are sawmilling businesses around it or OSB businesses.

To your point, that whole cluster is sort of vital to the supply chain. Obviously, the pulp industry needs a healthy sawmilling industry, because that's where a lot of our raw materials come from. Yes, whole trees are coming our way, but so are chips. If we can't get all of that to happen, we end up uncompetitive. I think the challenge always in this industry is that we have to compete globally, but actually we're a very local and very rural business. That's always going to be the challenge for the pulp and paper industry in any geography, quite frankly.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Let's quickly go to the ESG side of things. Again, if we look at the harvesting that's going to happen, these are jobs that are going to first nations. They're being trained by local technical schools. You talked about 1,200 jobs in Prince Albert at the mill there alone.

Again, what types of jobs would these people have if that mill wasn't opened?

[Lana Wilhelm]

We can look again to Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp as a great template for the long-term sustainability of those jobs. These are highly trained trades jobs. They're well paying and stable. They even transfer across sectors.

I think as a record of what we've been able to accomplish at Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp, we could take direct a link in how we would build that out and also those opportunities in partnership with nations there.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Again, I don't want to interrupt, but obviously you're doing a good job, because the Province of Saskatchewan has endorsed your movement in Prince Albert. I think it's because of the history you've had in Meadow Lake. Is that fair to say?

[Lana Wilhelm]

That is. We just received government approval for environment assessment.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

The environmental assessment is done and you have everything in place. That's really good to hear.

Going back to the jobs in the region, we have a sawmill in Carrot River. We used to have a mill in Flin Flon or The Pas at one time. It got closed, I understand. You're taking product now that's actually not going to be used anywhere else, but it helps take the cycle and again rejuvenate that cycle, so we're going to be replanting and doing forest management. Is that fair to say?

[Lana Wilhelm]

Yes. I think from a forestry planning and sustainability angle, it's not only important to recognize the regeneration, which we as foresters are obligated to do. It's also important to look at how we take fuel-loading from areas that would normally be adding to the fire risk, which of course is extremely high in some areas.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Just quickly, then, the mill—

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

I'm sorry, Randy. We're out of time on this one. We're packed, but we will come back around to give you five more minutes.

We will move now to Mr. Sorbara for five minutes.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome, folks, to the committee today.

When did you conclude the acquisition of the Domtar Corporation?

[John Williams]

That was in November 2021.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Okay. You went through all, obviously, proper channels in that acquisition...?

[John Williams]

Absolutely. Yes.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Were any issues raised by any of the competition authorities or anything to that extent?

[John Williams]

Again, the only one was in terms of the pulp business. We had to divest the Kamloops mill.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Okay. You just recently announced the Resolute Forest Products acquisition.

[John Williams]

We did. Yes. It's completed. It's done.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

The headquarters is located in Richmond, British Columbia, from my understanding.

[John Williams]

Yes.