Archives for June 15, 2019

Canfor Pulp Products is temporarily shutting down one of its northern British Columbia pulp mills — just days after parent company Canfor Inc. announced breaks at all but one of its B.C. sawmills and the permanent closure of another.

Canfor Pulp says the Taylor mill won’t operate from June 29 to Aug. 5, reducing pulp production by about 25,000 tonnes.

The Vancouver-based company says reasons include weaker market conditions and a short-term lack of wood supply due to slowdowns at its sawmills elsewhere in the province.

All Canfor sawmills except the WynnWood operation in southeastern B.C., are to shut down for at least two weeks starting on Monday, and the mill in Vavenby, north of Kamloops, is to close permanently in July.

Tennessee-based Louisiana-Pacific Corp. has also announced an indefinite shuttering of its Peace Valley oriented strandboard mill in Fort St. John, affecting about 190 workers.

Employees have been told the shutdown is to begin Aug. 9, and a company statement says declining housing starts, high wood costs and other pressures forced its decision.

Forests Minister Doug Donaldson blames market changes and timber killed by pest infestations. He said transition teams are on the way to communities where mill closures have the potential to affect hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.

“The fact is that we knew this day was coming, as far as the constriction on the fibre supply, at least 10 years ago,” Donaldson said.

“We’ve taken steps to address it in the last 22 months and, unfortunately, the previous government didn’t over 16 years, so we’re determined to make forestry an important part of rural communities.”

Donaldson has warned that tough decisions lie ahead as transition plans are developed, but B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson accused the NDP government of failing to do anything to help affected workers.

Wilkinson has called for creation of an all-party forestry competitiveness committee and the immediate reduction of stumpage fees and carbon tax paid by the forestry sector.

“This is failed leadership on the part of (Premier) John Horgan, plain and simple,” Wilkinson said in a statement.

It has been a difficult few months for British Columbia communities dependant upon the forestry industry.

In addition to the plans by Canfor and Louisiana-Pacific, Toronto-based Norbord Inc. announced this week that an indefinite shutdown is to begin in August at its oriented strandboard mill in 100 Mile House affecting 160 workers.

In May, privately owned, Vernon-based Tolko Industries announced its Quesnel sawmill is to close permanently in August, putting 150 people out of work, while 90 workers will be affected when half the shifts at its Kelowna mill are cut in July.

Aspen Planers Ltd., based in Merritt, also cut 50 per cent of the shifts at its Merritt mill earlier this week, resulting in 50 layoffs.

Canada Post is proposing to raise the prices of stamps ever-so-slightly next year.

The federal corporation says it is looking to increase the price of stamps two cents, to 92 cents, for a stamp purchased as part of a sheet of stamps, or to $1.07 for a single stamp.

The Crown corporation says it expects the cost to Canadians would be about 26 cents a year and the cost to businesses would be about $6.

Regulations made public Friday show the cost to send mail or packages internationally would go up between three cents and 48 cents depending on the size and destination.

The proposals are subject to a 30-day consultation.

If approved, the new rates would take effect Jan. 13, 2020.

Last year, Canada Post delivered about three billion pieces of mail, a 44-per-cent decline from a peak in 2006, though that’s partly because of major work stoppages in the fall related to a labour dispute.

Meanwhile, an average of 174,000 new addresses are added in Canada each year, requiring Canada Post to deliver to more places.

The result, the Crown corporation says, is a drop in revenue with a before-tax loss of $270 million in 2018 compared to a profit of $76 million in 2017.

Increasing postage rates would generate $9 million in gross revenues, Canada Post predicts.

A government-struck expert panel is calling for new “super-deduction” tax credits as a carrot for Canadians to park their retirement savings in climate-conscious investments.

The report this morning to Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the government should let people deduct more than 100 per cent of retirement contributions they put into investments such as bonds that help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The panel expects the deduction would be an incentive for the many Canadians who don’t max out their retirement-savings allowances and tax-free savings account contributions, and those who do should have extra space for green investments.

The ideas are in a broader vision of regulatory changes the panel prescribes for combining Canada’s environmental goals and economic growth.

Businesses should be required to disclose more about the financial risks climate changes pose to their bottom lines, the report says, and pension plans to show how climate-related issues are considered in their investments.

But the panel says the government must set a plan that extends to the middle of the century, outlining investments that need to be made to hit emission goals and the cost of a carbon tax for years to come so businesses and investors have predictability.

Higher data plans more common in the U.S. finally starting to come to Canada

Bell Canada has followed Rogers by matching an “unlimited” cellphone data plan with no overage fees for downloading more than 10 gigabytes of data each month.

But like the Rogers plan announced yesterday, customers will experience slower speeds once those 10 gigabytes have been used. Both companies are offering the service starting at $75 per month.

The announcement on Bell’s website said that beyond 10 gigabytes, “speeds will be reduced for light web browsing, email and texting.” 

The offer from the Montreal-based company is available until June 30.

Telus, meanwhile, also came out on Thursday with a beefed up data plan that would allow customers up to 15 GB per month for $75. Unlike Rogers’ plan which the company says is permanent, and similar to Bell’s which is a promotional offer, the Telus offering is only for a limited time, available to anyone who signs up by July 2.

“We’re always making enhancements to our customer experience. We currently have a promotional offer for new, renewing and existing BYOD customers,” spokesperson Brandi Rees told CBC News.

While offering a higher data limit, the Telus offer is not “unlimited” in that any customer who goes over the 15 GB limit in a month would be charged the usual pay-per-use overage rate of $10 per 100 MB.

Nonetheless, the beefed up data plans represent a shift in Canada’s cellphone service landscape, where companies have been slower to adopt unlimited plans than their counterparts in the United States.

However, unlimited data plans have been available from regional competitors, such as SaskTel in Saskatchewan and Freedom Mobile, which operates wireless networks in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

An analyst report from Bloomberg said the Rogers offer is at least  25 per cent cheaper than the company’s comparable plan. While likely to be welcomed by consumers, report author John Butler called the announcement “a worrisome development for the company and the Canadian wireless industry.”

That’s because the price drop is likely to bring about a “prolonged decline” in the amount of revenue wireless companies earn per customer. 

“Even if more users upgrade to the new plan, Rogers’ ability to monetize data-usage growth in the long term will be limited.”

However, a similar report from TD Securities’ Vince Valentini said the bank was in favour of “both the timing and the magnitude of the pricing changes,” but that its forecasts for Rogers would depend on whether all major carriers follow suit.

BMO analyst Tim Casey echoed that sentiment in his own written statement, which said competitive reactions would be critical to determining the outcome of the move.

The changes are not unexpected, however, Casey said.

“We believe the timing reflects the evolution of the industry.”