The federal government rolled out Thursday $278 million in subsidies to private sector players in Canada's pulp and paper industry. The subsidies are part of the government's so-called Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program for the industry, a response, essentially, to the U.S. government's decision to subsdize the American industry for the use in that country of “black liquor” as a fuel. One A summary of today's Canadian handouts (to be updated as the announcements are made), all but one of which are in ridings held by Conservative MPs:
- The Harper Government announced today that it is investing $21 million in the Twin Rivers Paper Company mill in Edmundston, New Brunswick.. (In the riding of Tobique–Mactaquac held by Conservative Mike Allen.)
- The Harper Government announced today that it is investing $10.4 million in two Irving Paper mills in Saint John, New Brunswick … (in the riding of Saint John held by Conservative Rodney Weston)
- The Harper Government’s support will help Domtar invest in energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies at its Windsor Mill in Quebec .. (in the riding of Richmond–Arthabaska held by Bloc Quebecois André Bellavance.)
- The Harper Government is investing $62.9 million in Pacific Forest Industries' mill in Boyle, Alberta (in the riding of Fort McMurray—Athabasca held by Conservative Brian Jean.)
- The Harper Government is investing $41.5 million in Cariboo's Quesnel, B.C., mill (in the riding of Cariboo-Prince George held by Conservative Richard Harris)
- Harper Government is investing $100.2 million in Canfor's Northwood Pulp Mill in Prince George, B.C. (in the riding of Cariboo-Prince George held by Conservative Dick Harris)
- Harper Government is investing $17.3 million in Domtar's Kamloops, B.C., mill (in the riding Kamloops–Thompson–Cariboo held by Conservative Cathy McLeod)
A little more on Canada's “black liquor” subsidy program, courtesy of PMO communications:
The Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program provides companies with credits based on their production of black liquor ($0.16/litre) in 2009. Black liquor is a liquid by-product of the pulping process used to generate heat and power.
Firms then have until March 31, 2012, to draw on these credits to finance approved capital projects that offer demonstrable environmental benefits, such as improvements to their energy efficiency or their capacity to produce alternative energy. The program is capped at $1 billion and total payments to Canadian industry will not exceed this amount.
Thirty-eight pulp and paper mills across Canada, representing 24 companies, generated credits under the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program based on their 2009 production levels of black liquor.
An informative post, as well as the previous one on “Jobs and Politics.”
If you don't mind, some trivial observations on my part.
I appreciate your use of the colours to indicate ridings, simply because some of your journo/pundit colleagues apparently are a tad colour-blind.
What do I mean?
Well, yesterday on Power and Politics, Evan Solomon, Greg Weston, Ian Capstick and the token conservative Tasha Kheiriddin actually spent air time criticizing the Government for its Economic Action Plan website.
Their criticism centered on the fact the website uses Conservative colours rather than the traditional — and apparently mandatory, to hear them tell it — Liberal red.
Now, maybe my own faltering eyesight is at fault, but the only place where I discern true conservative blue is at the top left-hand side, near the 3-coloured upwards arrows on that website http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/eng/index.asp.
The background is indeed blue, but as shown in this colour wheel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BYR_color_wheel.svg
the colour used in the Economic Action Plan is closer to the blue shown in the left-hand side of the wheel wedged between green and “conservative” blue.
Well, the consolation I can draw from such “heated” discussions is two-fold:
• the utter irrelevance of some talking heads
• the great state Canada is in, when such a “burning issue” needs to be covered by such an august Power Panel.
P.S. Happy New Year!
Pfft! Typical conservative behaviour. Change the subject when its the Conservatives handing out a quarter of a billion dollars in corporate welfare.