David Coon, MLA/Député

The leader of the New Brunswick Green Party says the provincial government is being unfair to Miramichi Lumber.

David Coon tells 95.9 Sun FM that he has been in regular contact with officials from the saw mill and said he cannot understand the province’s stance when it comes to the company.

“It didn’t add up when the conservatives were in power and it doesn’t add up when the Liberals are in power,” Coon said.

The Jane Street saw mill has struggled since re-launching in the spring of 2013. The mill underwent a considerable retrofit and can now only produce saw logs and not stud logs. But, the company says it cannot get enough saw logs from its Crown allocation of 126,488 cubic metres of saw material to operate full-time.

As a result, for most of the past two year, the company has operated in a cycle of building up material for a month and then running until the material runs out.

The company contends their allocation should be for saw logs only, which the provincial government dismisses.

In January, the mill was the scene of an electrical fire that crippled it and forced it to shut down. Mill officials hoped to have the mill running again by now, but they have been told the province will keep insurance proceeds from the fire to pay down debt owed by the mill.

The province has also barred the mill from harvesting on Crown land.

Coon said the situation isn’t right.

“I think the provincial government is treating Miramichi Lumber very poorly, very unfairly. When Miramichiers need work, and good work, Miramichi Lumber can provide it, but it’s got to have access to Crown land to do that, it’s got to be able to operate,” the Green Party leader said.

He accused the Natural Resources Department of putting barriers in the way of the mill and said the province should be doing what it can to get the mill going again.

“There’s a mill that should be operating and employing, all told, somewhere around 100 people,” he said.

Coon said above and beyond the current problems at Miramichi Lumber,  the current system, that sees large companies manage Crown land and smaller companies like Miramichi Lumber act as sub-licensees, is broken.

“It really does speak to the kind of corruption in the system in a way, or the way the system is corrupted when it comes to the sub-licenses or the independent mills who operate under licensees, it’s not fair to them,” Coon said.

“They have little ability to be masters of their own businesses,” he added.

Last year, Miramichi Lumber filed a lawsuit against the government over the issue of allocation. The province has counter-sued for unpayed royalties.