By Sarah Stone

Sask forestry industry pushes innovation, jobs training with new funding

Jul 30, 2014 | 6:37 AM

One thing northern Saskatchewan has to offer in abundance is trees and on Tuesday the Minister of State for Western Economic Development announced the government will be providing $1.1 million over three years to develop for the forest industry.

At the Prince Albert Forest Centre Michelle Rempel said the Prince Albert Model Forest Association (PAMF), alongside its delivery partner FPInnovations, will receive the money to give guidance to northern Saskatchewan forest companies to improve management and business practices. It will help also revise product lines and increase market activity to keep up with international demand.

“We know that in order for this industry, which is very important to the local economy, to continue to grow and thrive for years to come, we need to make sure the people who work in it; the small-medium sized enterprise as well as some of our first nation communities, are equipped with the tools that they need to take advantage of new market opportunities,” Rempel said.

In addition, PAMF and FPInnovations will provide forestry companies in northern Saskatchewan technical support that can be used to create new ways of producing higher-value products.

In her speech, Rempel compared Saskatchewan’s forestry sector to Alberta’s oil industry. She explained with new, innovative technology the opportunity for growth is boundless.

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With that growth, comes job opportunities and according to legislative secretary to the minister of environment for forest management, Fred Bradshaw, the government wants to ensure there is labour to fill that need.

In phase two of the program $350,000 will be provided for job training with emphasis on aboriginal opportunities.

“We want to make sure that those particular people are positioned for equal economic partnership by having the skills training that they need to participate,” Rempel said.

She added they currently are seeing an increase in demand for wood products and it’s about “forward looking” 10 years down the road and preparing for that.

The PAMF builds partnerships at the local level to help solve problems impacting forest management. It has one model forest in every province with each one based on local priorities, according to Mark Johnston, president of the board of the directors.

“I think we have two main components to this—one is skills training primarily oriented to aboriginal communities and we’re also interested in expanding the market for Saskatchewan forest products,” Johnston said.

At this point Johnston couldn’t give specifics on how many jobs are anticipated to receive training or what areas of the forest sector will be developed, but adds he hopes as many as possible.

He also couldn’t comment on the future of the Prince Albert Pulp Mill as it is currently only producing power.

One of the companies that will see benefits of building capacity and productivity is L & M Wood Products, located just south of Meadow Lake.

Zane Delainey, president and general manager, said this move lays the groundwork to getting more involved in exporting their products to Asian markets.

“We’ve worked … with FPInnovations, Western Diversification and the Ministry of Economy and so it’s a chance to keep expanding and move our products that we’ve never had the opportunity before,” Delainey said.

L & M Wood Products does a lot commercial products, timbers, planking and specializes in agricultural market.

Over the years it has grown from 10 to around 90 employees. Delainey said about 60-65 per cent of those employees are aboriginal and it’s good the government is jumping on board to support this group by providing industry specialists and seminars for training through FPInnovations

“We’ve always been that way. The location alone has dictated that that works and it’s a good group to work with,” he said.

Saskatchewan’s land mass is 23 per cent covered in commercial forest. The forest sector generates more than $1 billion in annual sales.

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84