Hornepayne, Ontario, lumber mill shutdown has community on edge

Hornepayne, Ont., is on edge this weekafter the local lumber mill was put on a three-week shutdown whichleaves146 people out of work.

The OlavHaavaldsrud Timber Company announced, in late November,it would lay off employeesuntil it resolves an issue aroundselling power to the provincial grid from its co-generation plant.

Iif the mill stays closed it will mean "some very bleak times" for the township of about 1,000 people, said MorleyForster, the mayor of Hornepayne.

"When you take that much, that number of people, which is about 40 per cent of the workforce in Hornepayne out of the mix, then everything suffers," he said.

Forstersaid a shutdown would also impact around 50 secondary jobs.

The other major employer in the community is CN Rail.

Forster saidhe's confident the mill and province will negotiate how much power the co-generation plant can produce.

He said he has been in contact with the province to get the best settlement possible.

But Serge Trudel, who worked at the mill and is asteward for the steelworkers union, says portable milling equipment is already being moved out of the community.

He said workers were told Friday the company willlose$9 million a year if the plant doesn't sell enough power to the grid.

According to Trudel, employees were told the mill needsto sell 17 megawatts of power, but are only allowed to sell 10, and that when itproduced 12 megawatts for a month, Hydro One stopped it.

Employeeswere told they'd be laid off for threeweeks while negotiations with the province continue.

"They're also telling us if the government doesn't respond within three weeks, it will no longer be a temporary layoff, it will be a permanent layoff. Everybody's devastated," Trudelsaid.