Letter to the editor

A7

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Speak Up

With great concern I am writing to express my opinion on what is and should be of great concern regarding Crown wood allocation or lack of same for the greater Miramichi area.

It appears that Arbec Forest Products have made an offer to purchase the Weyerhaeuser Miramichi mill. It seems they want a guarantee of Crown wood allocation to coincide with the purchase of private woodlot owners wood.

This proposal sounds very good considering all our mills are presently down. It could put the 120 or more men back to work. It also would give private woodlot owners a chance to move some of their wood to generate a little income. Some woodsmen would go back to work in harvesting of Crown land plus spin offs from this would be of great value.

Even if they were able to run for six months per year would be a great start to a return to where we once were.

Starting with our local members in Fredericton, our member in Ottawa, and our Minister of Natural Resources Donald Arsenault, there is a strong silence about this. What gives?

This decision should be a no brainer. Help them out wherever you can. Start with a short term contract to see how things unfold. But go get them with open arms.

From what we have been hearing there has been a steady flow of our wood out of the province since our mills have been shut down. This is no doubt employing people elsewhere in Quebec and perhaps Finland when we could be purchasing it here.

There will be an upswing in the market sooner or later, it never fails.

I don't believe all our licences should go to one big conglomerate. This we will regret again. Let's not leave this concern to a few like Chris Allison and Jean-Guy Comeau. They need our support.

We all need to support our region and our youth.

Former millworker,

Hebert Dickson