$430 million forestry support lauded
Will keep Quebec competitive
FP Innovations, the PointeClaire-based national research group, quickly endorsed the Parti Québécois government’s $430-million forest products industry aid program.
The not-for-profit group, with 500 employees across Canada, said the spending program’s $320-million core, spread over three years, will help to ensure continued development of the province’s forest products sector and support key new technologies.
“New technological breakthroughs will strengthen and diversify the industry’s activities and provide more jobs throughout the province,” said FP Innovations CEO Pierre LaPointe.
“The whole program will help the industry to remain competitive globally and a significant contributor to the economy,” he added.
The government’s new program, aligned with its previous 2012-17 development strategy, rightly targets three streams of research activity, LaPointe said. These are green construction meth-
“The whole program will help the industry to remain competitive globally.”
PIERRE LAPOINTE
ods, green energy and green chemistry.
He cited the province’s financial support that led to development of the world’s first nanocrystalline cellulose and the first commercial production plant at Windsor, near Sherbrooke — a jointventure of Domtar Corp. and FP Innovations. It also helped publication of a design guide for wood construction of sixstorey homes.
Nanocrystalline cellulose is a wood-derived nanomaterial consisting of cellulose crystals and it is stronger and lighter than steel, recyclable, sustainable and nontoxic. It is aimed at the paint, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, packaging, architectural and industrial markets.
The full $430 million package, announced Thursday by Premier Pauline Marois in the pulp-mill town of SaintFelicien on Lac Saint-Jean, is designed to help the industry return to prosperity after being hit by the 2008-2010 recession, sliding demand for newsprint and office papers and rugged competition and the Internet.
It covers projects to boost the use of biomass to reduce emissions, to improve pulp and paper manufacturing, silviculture and regional tree harvesting.
Opposition Leader Philippe Couillard said the new program was to be welcomed, but the province is facing a heavy budget deficit and possibly an election soon.
Richard Garneau, CEO of Resolute Forest Products Inc., owner of the Saint-Felicien pulp mill, said the government has made “an important gesture” recognizing forestry’s key economic role and its capacity to create jobs.
Last week the industry said Quebec has the world’s highest fibre costs and the annual allowable cut has been reduced by 40 per cent over the past decade as a result of government policies.