Terrace Bay Public Library Digital Collections

Terrace Bay News, 21 May 1986, p. 1

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Terrace Bay Schreiber Wednesday, May 21, 1986 Vol. 41, No. 20 Serving Terrace Bay, Schreiber and Rossport 35° Chamber now one step away The business communi- ty of Terrace Bay is now just one step away from. reviving a Chamber of Commerce for the town, as following a meeting on May 15 acommittee of six people was established to look into what has to be done to get the Chamber back. Over two dozen businessmen and women attended the meeting, which was hosted at first by Terrace Bay Police Chief Russ Phillips. He told the group he is unable to go any further with the Chamber development because of his own over- whelming obligations. He did distribute some information at the session, and also explained that almost everyone involved in business in Terrace Bay said in a recent question- naire that they. would all work on a_ business organization for the town and that there should be one, no matter what form it takes. When the idea of bring- ing the Chamber back was presented earlier this year, it was not known if a less organized business .associa- tion would be more suitable. Chief Phillips said there are definite advan- tages in having a fullfledg- ed Chamber, prime among them being that just about anyone can join it, in- cluding retired individuals and Councillors. '*Say we decide to start something," Terry Korzin- ski of Terry's Sight and Sound said. "Everything so far points to having a Chamber of Commerce." 'Things have changed since the start of the year,"' Chief Phillips said. '*'Maybe we could have a show of hands of those in favour of having a Chamber." Almost ever- body's hand went up. Volunteers were then re- quired to form a Commit- tee to look into the specific steps needed to start up the Chamber, which folded primarily due to a lack of interest about 10 years ago. Korzinski said he would be a part of the committee, as did the town's Canadian Imperial Bank of Com- continued on page 11 Bob and Ollie Terrace Bay Reeve Ollie Chapman and Ontario New Democartic Party leader Bob Rae met with the rest of Town Council on May 15 to discuss the problems at the Kimberly-Clark pulp mill in the township. Rae told Council that he is confident the provincial government will do all that it can to make sure that the mill does, not close down. ae 0 ae . More trouble for K-C A recent news release has created a significant difference of opinion bet- ween the agency which prepared the controversial release, the Ministry of the Enviroment, and the com- pany which was the subject of the release, Kimberly- Clark and its pulp mili in Terrace Bay. The news release, dated May 12, said a Ministry study has concluded that contaminants in the discharge from the mill are lethal to test fish. '*The tests also showed uptake of ...an animal carinogen in test fish as far as 1.5 kilometres from Human pushme-pullyou In their eagerness to pitch in, 10-year-old Wendy Sopel and her friend shared garbage bag. It was all part of the fun of Pitch-In Day held Brenda Moffitt, 11, both in Grade 5 at Terrace Bay Public School, at the school last week which was sponsored by Sunoco and the went in opposite directions, with almost fatal consequences for their Ministry of the Environment, among others. Concerns expressed Rae visits Terrace Bay mill Ontario New Democratic Party leader Bob Rae, after meeting with members' of Kimberly-Clark's pulp mill management in Terrace Bay one May 15, said he had expressed his concern to them about how those worried about the situation atthe mill are being kept in the dark. "We didn't hear anything from them that you don't already know,"' Rae said in a meeting later that same day with Terrace Bay Township Council. '*Even the union is less in the know that they would like to be. We all want to be involved in protecting jobs there." Rae's statments were echoed by Jack Stokes of Schreiber, who organized the meetings between Rae and K-C, union represen- tatives, and Council. "We did get a committ- ment from the company that they would not do anything precipitous,"Stokes told Council. "'The main con- cern of the unions now is how do they get involved in the planning...they wanted to know when the process would begin, and accor- ding to the company, it has already begun." Stokes was referring to the company's evaluation of its Terrace Bay and area operations with the objec- tive of increasing produc- ticity and reducing costs. According to K-C Chair- man of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Darwin E. Smith, the mill has been losing millions of dollars and is in danger of being closed down. "Obviously this industry is essential," Rae said. "It is the major employer of the town, and we did get a reinforcement from the union that the situation is serious and they are in- vestigating some options."" Rae added that it is no longer a question of a private company making private decisions. '*We are not about, as a Legislature, to sit around on our hands and let the next shoe drop," Rae in- sisted. "The tendency is the public sector to be in- volved only at the end. We feel it is important to get in- volved early on.'" where the mill effluent discharged from Blackbird Creek into Moberly Bay on Lake Superior," the release added. In a_ release to employees, Kimberly- Clark replied that the Ministry's test fish were not local to the area and that the tests were not pro- mpted by any conditions observed in fish in the Ter- race Bay area of Lake Superior. The ministry release did point out that "fish kills and tainting of fish flesh have not been reported in this area,"' but added "'cag- ed rainbow trout, placed in "it is too early yet to begin pointing a finger at K-C and demanding to know what are they going to do. At the end of the year they should have their process in place."' Rae asked Township Reeve Ollie Chapman if the Council had been contacted by the provincial govern- ment or by the company itself on the matter, and Reeve Chapman replied ' 'Ni O. 9 She added, though, that the company did call just before Smith made his speech in Terrace Bay on May 3. Lake Nipigon MPP Gilles Pouliot, who was also at the May 15 meeting with Council, pointed out that he and Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rene Fontaine also briefly met with K-C Presi- dent Jack Lavallet and others prior to Smith's speech. "Basically, things are still where Mr. Smith left them," Councillor George Ramsay said. "When I did speak with them, I asked what we as a town Council could do, and they said at this point -.-jn-time they 'don't know,"* the nearshore waters of Moberly Bay, died within 48 hours."' "'In the news release, the Ministry fails to point out that some of the test fish also died at a control loca- tion in the area, which was not exposed to mill ef- fluent," the K-C release from Director of Industrial Relations Al» Chisholm noted. "The (Ministry) study concludes that the Kimberly-Clark paper mill is not in compliance with the fish survival re- quirements set by the federal government to continued on page 2 \ Reeve Chapman said. "'We still want to know what we should do...this does give us a bit of a problem."' '"How would you feel about the provincial government appointing somebody now to work with the unions and com- pany?" Rae asked. The consensus he got was that it might be a good idea to do so as long as such a person was from the North, with a knowledge of the North's unique pro- blems, and not some "hot shot" from Southern On- tario, as Councillor Peter Romanuk put it. "There is not way we can allow the mill to close," Stokes insisted. 'There is too much at stake here...we have to convince the Ontario government and the Federal government along with the company that the bottom line is what do we have to do to keep this mill going! We have to come up with a plan to keep this mill surviving.'" '*Nobody seems to know what is going to happen,"' Reeve Chapman replied, and referred to a con- continued on page 3

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