Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson says a transition team is in place and workers displaced by the closure at Tolko will be helped.
Simpson says it’s the same process that was used when the Canfor and Northstar mills closed….
“That’s a group that comes together made up of the company, the workers representatives, in this case the Steelworkers Union, and then the appropriate ministry representatives from the province and the federal government. They sit down and start mapping out the specific needs of the workforce that’s being impacted.”
Simpson says at the political level they are having conversations with the province through the Premier’s office and the Minister of Forests.
He says they hope to retool the workforce so that they can move into areas of need such as the trades as one example.
Simpson says one thing he did take away from the meeting however, was that they could do a better job communicating what is being done…
“And I immediately reached out to the contacts in the Ministry of Forests, the Ministry of Jobs and Technology and Training to talk this week about setting something up that we can bring together all the things that are going on, and point people to all the resources that are available in a more unified manner that is easier for people to get access to.”
Simpson says they hope to correct that as soon as possible.