Quebec mill town fights for survival as Trump tariffs idle century-old paper plant
The indefinite shutdown of Témiscaming's paper mill, triggered by US tariffs of up to 50% on Canadian wood and paper products, has left most of its 360 workers unemployed and residents mobilising to buy the plant back from its American owner.
BBC World
The town of Témiscaming, Quebec, was built more than a century ago around its paper mill and the surrounding forests of pine, birch, spruce and fir. Now that mill, the community's main employer and economic anchor, sits idle after trade talks between Canada and the United States broke down and President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs on Canadian goods.
In early October, the plant's American owner, RYAM, announced an "economic shutdown" of the facility for an indefinite period. Most of the mill's 360 employees are out of work, sustained for now by partial pay from government tariff relief. Property values in the town fell almost overnight, and "For Sale" signs have appeared on many of the modest middle-class homes that make up most of Témiscaming. Residents fear that essential workers, from grocery store clerks to doctors at the small local hospital, could soon follow.
"If the mill goes down, it'll turn into a ghost town," said Ronnie Raymond, who comes from a family of mill workers. "There'll be nothing, nothing left. There's no work for anybody, really. It's scary."
The tariffs are having uneven effects across Canada. The national unemployment rate has held largely steady at around 6.5% since the tariffs were first implemented, alongside tepid but consistent growth. But industries hit directly by US duties of up to 50%, including steel, aluminium, automobiles and lumber, pulp and paper, are suffering concentrated pain. Stéphane Lefebvre, a mill employee and union leader whose father and grandfather also worked there, argued that the same job losses in a major city would dominate the news and pressure governments to act.
The economic damage could ripple across the regional forestry industry, including saw mills and trucking. One local contractor said he has already laid off 13 people. In August, after trade talks collapsed, the US imposed 50% duties on roughly C$28bn of Canadian goods, including wood and paper products such as pulp, stationery and boxes. Canada responded with its own dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs. The Témiscaming mill, which produces paperboard used in frozen-food packaging across North America and in scratch-off lottery tickets, sends roughly 75% of its production to the US.
The last time the town faced a comparable threat was in 1973, when the mill's then-American owner threatened to close it. Workers and managers banded together to purchase the plant, building it into Tembec, a Quebec-owned international company with operations across North America and France. Frank Dottori, now in his 80s and retired in Témiscaming, was an engineer instrumental in organising that purchase, which required employees to accept a 10% pay cut. He went on to become the company's chief executive. Workers now hope to repeat the feat, forming a coalition to buy the plant back from RYAM, which acquired it in 2017. "We're hoping that lightning will hit twice," Lefebvre said, though he contends the effort cannot succeed without significant help from Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Quebec government. RYAM said in an email that it would not comment on a potential sale or prospective buyers.
Some residents feel forestry has taken a back seat to other tariffed sectors. This month, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly threatened Stelco, one of Canada's largest steelmakers, with financial penalties or a forced asset sale over planned layoffs of some 500 workers. Last week, Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced nearly C$9bn to help Ontario's steel and auto sectors modernise, strengthen domestic demand and open new markets. A spokesperson for Joly said the government has made C$400m available to support the forestry sector in rural and remote areas, launched a programme helping tariff-affected businesses access cash flow, and is "actively working with all parties involved" on the Témiscaming mill. Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire, who represents the area, said he is "very concerned and worried" about what he called inaction from the Carney government.
Mayor Alain Gauthier said he does not blame RYAM for its decision, calling the US tariffs "a bomb to shut down our manufacturing in Canada". He wants Ottawa to impose its own duties on US board products entering Canada tariff-free, and said that while politicians describe an economic war with the United States, "in reality we see absolutely no evidence of war measures being taken".
Dottori said the new generation of workers needs a bold leader like the one who helped drive the 1970s buyout, and that lifting the US tariffs is imperative to the mill's viability. Many residents are pinning hopes on the upcoming US midterm elections to pressure the Trump administration, whose approval ratings have fallen in polls. Some tariffs on Canadian goods were lifted last week after lobbying from Republican Maine Senator Susan Collins, who is running for re-election, though those changes do not apply to products made at the Témiscaming mill. Residents hope for a resolution before winter, when sub-zero temperatures could freeze equipment at the idle plant and make reopening harder. "We're in Game Seven right now," Lefebvre said. "We're gonna play till the last whistle."