OCTOBER 15, 1985 - VOLUME 6 - NUMBER 14 Cut and Run Canadian
Forests Under Siegeby Jamie Swift TORONTO, Ontario-When Great
Lakes Forest Products of Thunder Bay, Ontario announced late
last year its plans to sink $25 million into a new pulp mill in
the state of Washington, it created a minor stir of controversy
in the region. Situated at the head of Lake Superior just north
of Duluth and Minnesota's Sawtooth Mountains, Thunder Bay is a
city heavily dependent on the forest industry, much like
hundreds of other communities along Canada's forest frontier.
The sprawling pulp and paper complexes of Great Lakes and
Abitibi-Price (the world's largest newsprint manufacturer) are
the principal employers at the Lakehead. Great Lakes sent
tremors throughout the community when it announced in 1984 that
it was heading south with its investment dollars. The trade
magazine Canadian Forest Industries noted in an editorial that
such a shift of capital could indeed signal a trend in the
industry. In 1983, Abitibi-Price in partn