No word yet on future of shuttered mill

Rumours swirling around the fate of the shuttered Terrace Bay mill are just that, rumours, said Mayor Paul Malashewski.
"We haven't been told anything concrete yet," he said. "I was in Geraldton last week when minister Greg Rickford (Ontario minister of Indigenous affairs and First Nations economic reconciliation and minister of northern development) and Premier Doug Ford were there visiting. I got to talk to minister Rickford for a couple minutes and the only thing he shared with me was that he's working on the file along with Graydon Smith, minister of natural resources."
Malashewski said Smith knows the value of industry to a small town because he used to be the mayor of a small town in the Muskoka area.
"He knows the impact of losing a major employer in a community and he seems to be genuinely concerned," the mayor said. "I think the government is doing all they can to get the mill reopened back up."
Malashewski pointed out that the mill closure affects many areas in Northwestern Ontario, which includes the sawmill operations in White River and Hornepayne as well as the logging industry in the Greenstone and Nakina areas.
"It's not just Terrace Bay, it's mostly Northwestern Ontario," he said. "We're working and trying to get something happening and we're asking questions too, but because of confidentiality agreements and stuff like that, no one can say too much about what's going on."
Meanwhile, Malashewski says area residents are "watching" where they are spending money" because there isn't much disposable income there for those who don't have a full-time paycheque.
Provincial funding has come through for the Township of Terrace Bay for the development of an action centre aimed at helping people find employment.
"We are currently hiring a couple of people to run the action centre with the township managing it," he said. "It is fully funded by the provincial government for one year and is available for everyone, not just unemployed mill workers, to help with resumes and job interview preparation."
The centre is expected to open near the end of July.

Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal