Another British Columbia pulp mill goes dark

PENTICTON — One of the oldest mills in British Columbia is the latest casualty in a long round of forest job losses.Domtar announced Thursday it will indefinitely idle its Howe Sound pulp mill and Bayview Fibre chipping facility in Port Mellon, affecting approximately 400 employees and taking 380,000 metric tonnes of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp off the market each year.The company said it has invested nearly $500 million since buying the mill in 2010 and built the adjacent chipping plant, yet cannot overcome reduced Asian demand, “unprecedented and sustained poor pricing for pulp globally, and a decline in affordable domestic fiber.”Forests Minister Ravi Parmar called it an “immensely difficult day for the Sunshine Coast,” saying the jobs have supported families for generations. He pointed to a “seismic shift” in the global pulp market, with BC northern bleached softwood kraft pulp now outcompeted by low-cost hardwood eucalyptus from the southern hemisphere and prices at their lowest in 100 years when adjusted for inflation.The government said it is engaging Domtar through a cross-government working group and will reach out immediately to local leaders, labour and workers with income and mental-health supports.The idling fits a broader and concerning pattern. Calls for Forests Minister Ravi Parmar to resign have followed each new closure and have intensified during this summer’s wildfires.The Conservative Party of BC shadow minister Ward Stamer said none of it had to happen and that Parmar had blamed the U.S. trade fight while ignoring years of fibre and permitting failure. The Western Standard reported last week that those calls were growing louder as the fire season spiralled out of control..The NDP delayed a provincial state of emergency until August 8, nearly a full day after the Bald Range fire had already exploded, more than 20,000 people were ordered out of Summerland and Peachland, and an elderly woman tragically died.Four days earlier, Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene had said the extra provincial tools — travel restrictions, commandeering rooms, anti-gouging rules — were no longer needed because local emergency services and non-governmental community support were already in place..The BC Council of Forest Industries estimates 15,000 forestry jobs have disappeared since 2022, with more than 20 mills closed permanently or indefinitely since 2023.Domtar itself permanently shut its Crofton pulp mill in December 2025, eliminating about 350 jobs for the same mix of poor pricing and lack of affordable fibre.Canfor is winding down its Northwood pulp mill near Prince George by the end of 2026, cutting another 300 positions.Unifor, which represents many of the affected workers, said the Howe Sound decision is further evidence the western forestry sector is nearing collapse without immediate federal and provincial action. The union noted that a federal Canadian Forest Sector Transformation Task Force, which included union representatives, released recommendations in June that remain unimplemented.

Another British Columbia pulp mill goes dark

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