B.C. government protects pension money at Catalyst Paper operations
VICTORIA — Looming forest industry tariff increases and deteriorating trade relations between Canada and United States prompted British Columbia’s government to protect the pensions of retirees and workers at three Catalyst Paper pulp mills, Premier John Horgan said Friday.
Horgan said he is not aware of any impending closure or sale at Catalyst pulp operations in Powell River, Port Alberni or Crofton, but the government made the move in response to the company’s sale of its U.S.-based forest companies last month and the prospect of higher lumber tariffs later this summer.
“This was a pre-emptive step,” he said. “We continue to work with Catalyst to try and find solutions to their operating challenges as well as the trade issues brought forward by the U.S. Today, we want to make sure that pensioners knew and workers knew the government was taking steps to make sure Catalyst understood they had an obligation to their workers, present and past.”
The company completed the sale of its U.S. operations last month in a deal worth US$175 million.