CJME/CKOM NewsTalk Radio Afternoon Program with host Alec Docking
Sept. 14th, 2007
***begin transcript***
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): We are still talking about the Prince Albert Pulp Mill….
Yesterday we got a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding which lays out the plan to reopen the mill. A lot of people have looked at that and say it’s pretty tenuous stuff at this point. There are certainly no guarantees that anything will happen because there are a lot of ifs, ands and buts. But if everything did fall into place we would then be in a position where we would see the mill reopening. So let’s just say that everything does get done. They do all the due diligence.
Let’s go back to the announcement. Here is the Premier and what he said will happen in terms of getting the people back on the job at the pulp mill.
PREMIER LORNE CALVERT: Our main focus will be to get the pulp mill up and running as early as late summer, early fall 2008.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): Alright. So that is the Premier’s word.
And then reporters being what reporters are, they go back to Domtar to say let’s just go through this. What about the optimism that is being expressed by the Premier? Well, maybe not so quite so optimistic. According to Domtar’s Vice-President Michel Rathier who we spoke to just a few hours ago. Here’s what he said:
MICHEL RATHIER (Domtar): We feel that it is premature at this time to give people false hope and say to them by next summer you’re going to start working again. It’s not possible and Domtar does not work that way.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): From Domtar at the highest level: We don’t want to give false hope. It’s not possible. We don’t work that way.
So he’s dashing any possibility then — according to this executive with Domtar — the company that is to reopen and run the pulp mill. He says it can’t be done.
Then just in the last half hour or thereabouts, a news release comes from the government saying woo, wait a minute. Domtar is clarifying their statements. They made a mistake. They’re not really meaning what you just heard.
So let’s listen carefully as we talk again to Michel Rathier a few moments ago.
This is what you said earlier this afternoon, now the government is saying you are saying something different. Can you tell you what you’re really saying?
MICHEL RATHIER (Domtar): What I said this morning I was not misquoted. But I’m the one who just slightly shifted comments here and all my understanding, this is an error on my part. And the discrepancies is not that huge once you hear the information. My understanding was that after a year’s work we would be in a position to say, to firm up an opening date. In fact, it is within that year’s work and after that year’s work that we expect and we are all expecting to align all the stars, if you want, and all the planets are well aligned and then yes after that year’s work there is potential for reopening the facility.
ALEC DOCKING (Program Host): Alright. Did you get all that? So his clarification is: No I was not misquoted. But I had to clarify because maybe I didn’t have anything lined up right. He said earlier it’s going to take a year’s work before we can make those decisions. Now he says it’s going to take a year’s work and (chuckles) then we’ll make the decision.
Okay, I guess the clarification would be now if everything is falling into place and absolutely every star aligned itself, then after the year you could be then in a position to be reopening the pulp mill.
Which would put it in the context in which the Premier spoke earlier or would it? Because once you’ve done all the work, do you then turn on a switch, everybody is back at work or does it take several months anyway which puts it well past the timeframe the Premier spoke of.
The other question one has to ask, why would there be a sudden clarification when his clarification doesn’t sound a heck of a lot different than he said this morning? Do you smell any sign whatsoever of any government pressure being placed upon Domtar?
Hmmm, just a speculation on my part.
It’s 4:19.
***end transcript***
More commentary –
Weyerhaeuser’s Fine Paper business merged into Domtar. Domtar bought everything in Saskatchewan that Weyerhaeuser owned. That included the rights to the PA Forestry Management Area (FMA), the paper mill, the pulp mill and the Big River saw mill.
Domtar is currently responsible for the environmental clean-up of those sites, yet we’ll be picking it up. Domtar will strip Big River of anything of value, yet we’ll be buying it. Domtar will double the output of Wapawekka Saw Mill, yet we’ll be paying for it.
The environmental clean-up must have been the lynch-pin for Domtar (not that the money is bad). Weyerhaeuser has been in the sights of the Rainforest Action Network and the Saskatchewan Environmental Society for years. I can only imagine the costs to the Province that will be necessary to clean up Weyerhaeuser’s mess.
I have some advice for Premier Calvert.
Give each of the 300 displaced workers a million dollars and forget about starting up that mill.
He will have their votes, and will save the province a ton of money.
If there was a profit to be made in that mill, Weyerhaeuser would still be running it.
What is sort of ironic is that during the 1971 provincial election Blakeney campaigned on a promise to close down the mile 48 pulpmill by Beauval SK. before it was even finished. He won and stopped construction the next day.
Another bit of history that the NDP will never allow into the Saskatchewan Encyclopedia.
“…there are a lot of ifs, ands and buts”
Wonder how many “buts” will be covered over this one once the numbers come in…
I am so sick of the NDP and their associated cronies telling everyone what they should think, say, and do. Like quicksand, the more you meddle in business and personal affairs, the more you get stuck. Do us all a favor, and butt the f@^k out.
BTW, anyone else see the upcoming series in the Leader Post about the ‘Saskatchewan Story – folks are coming back’ as anything else as one serious big @ss kiss of the exclamation mark campaign?
http://www.nodemocraticprocess.com
How do you spell Pulp…..”ethanol”….”spudco”….etc….etc.”
I can see the remaining ex-pulp mill union dummies falling for this crap but anybody with a half a brain will call bullshit on this deal.
The NDP just keep getting more and more desperate…their internal polling must show them on the road to hell on a water slide…no stopping us now.
I can only hope that this is the coming end of those lying, cheating, adle brained idiots forever.
If the NDP win this coming election I just won’t be able to express enough disgust with the people of Saskatchewan.
How much longer must we hardworking Saskatchewan citizens tolerate the SaskParty and NDP making a mess out of Saskatchewan? It is clearly time for Change versus more of the Same. The Saskatchewan Democratic Action Party will not make the mistakes that are currently unfolding in the Prince Albert frivolous abuse of public funds. The SDAP has a vastly superior economic program relating to these issues that will not result in the kind of massive debt the SaskParty will produce nor the endless business failures as in the case of NDP economics.
The SDAP is pleased to hear that Domtar is distancing itself from the NDP’s attempt to involve it in the NDP’s abuse of taxpayer funds to gain election. We urge Domtar to continue to make clear its autonomy as a business in this instance. These recent clarifications demonstrate that the NDP have been attempting to involve Domtar in NDP Leadership’s scheme to continue testing the limits of and bending the law with respect to corruption governed by the Election Act. The SDAP will be urging the Elections Saskatchewan offices to launch an immediate investigation into the NDP for their use of taxpayer Government funds during an election cycle.
Saskatchewan Democratic Action Party – SDAP
Unbelievable but this is Saskatchewan home of the rut.
Domtar can barely pay their bills anymore and I stopped dealing with their forestry group a few months ago.
why why why oh why can’t a gov’t just do the right thing instead of the most crass political junk ever to get votes? If, and this is a big if, the NDP wanted what was best for all of us, this deal would not be done.
I think they think they will get status quo number of seats so they think people in PA and area will vote for them.
Too bad they don’t think like hopefully most of us think and this is reason enough to not vote for them.
You think?
I hate being played by polititions, and although it happens everyday, this is the worst job ever done trying to blow sunshine up you know where.
Hey NDP….try to do whats right for all of us…..not just your re-election plans. Had you done that for the last 13yrs or so you would be in a position to get re-elected in a landslide, but nooooo you have gone of and wasted millions and given away decades of my 30 something friends to Alberta.
Thanks Kate, I feel better now.
It’s disgusting listening to a former minister (Calvert) lying through his teeth for political advantage.
Given the 25% point spread in favour of the Sask. Party we can expect Calvert to say anything and to spend any amount of money in an effort to buy the next election. Problem is nobody is listening to him. Enough is enough. It is time for change in Sask.
I really feel sorry for the people of Prince Albert and area. The NDP had to find some district in the province where they could buy or sucker the votes to win a couple seats, so they picked P.A., thinking they’re the biggest chumps. i guess the NDP didn’t think they could pull that one off again in the Yorkton / Melville, Tisdale, & Moose Jaw areas. ie:Broe ethanol projects
The NDP has ESP!! (Ethanol, Spuds and Pulp)
The No Demonstrable Principals (NDP) party recently called the Sask Party reckless. With the Domtar debacle following closely on the heels of dozens of other NDP “shoot government money out of a canon at voter’s tactics” there is now a new definition of ironic in our political lexicon.
Do you think there is a chance the 49 out of 58 ridings that were not promised $100 million plus of new spending will resent the fact that it is they who will be picking up the tab for these hollow promises for the next 20 years? I believe the recent NDP announcement moves have convinced thousands of swing voters that they are witnessing an NDP pre-election whore festival which is nothing more than transparent cynical self-serving bid to keep power for the morally bankrupt NDP government.
The 25 point advantage the SaskParty used to enjoy has been worn away. They are now trailing two other parties.
SDAP,
Post a link to prove your claim. The last poll was done in April, if a more recent poll shows differently I am sure the NDP’s lap dogs at the CBC would have it running 24/7.
Thanks for your question Trent:
Are you suggesting that a poll that is over six months old is a good understanding of how voters will cast their ballots? Even Sigma Analytics would not support such a claim – besides, as a political poll, the poll you cite was flawed and was conducted improperly – Sigma admitted this fact openly to us.
Besides all of that, any responsible and conscientious fiscal conservative who is worth their salt would not support the historically proven flawed debt economics of Brad Wall and the SaskParty anyway – they would run away from such a disaster.
About your comments on the “NDP Lap Dogs,” the NDP will likely never poll well again in Saskatchewan if they call an election this fall – most say it is game over for them if they go into an election while so weak.
SDAP, you said of the Sask Party “They are now trailing two other parties.” Trent asked you for some substantiation. Your post had none. On what basis did you state “They are now trailing two other parties”? It’s a simple question.
Thanks littlebones for your question:
Recent polling conducted in the last month shows the SaskParty trailing two other parties in Saskatchewan.
Well, that settles it then. “Recent Polling conducted last month”. Who conducted the poll? How many people were polled? Over what period of time? What is the statistical margin of error?
SDAP, was your poll on campus at Louis?
Perhaps the NDP should learn a lesson from the NDP in B.C. who also tried to save a pulp mill in Prince Rupert.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2005/04/27/bc_campbell-rupert20050427.html
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2002/02/20/skeena020220.html
I’m not sure what’s happening with the mill these days, but B.C. taxpayers are unlikely to recover any money out of the deal.
At least the people have a new container port so we can import even more cheap/dangerous Chinese landfill/garbage (I mean products.)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070917.BCMASON17/TPStory/National/columnists