Federal governement announces $2 million investment in Dryden's Domtar mill
30 June 2015
The Domtar Mill in Dryden has received $2 million from the federal government to develop and commercialize new new premium grades of pulp. Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford explains.
"This is a significant investment for Domtar and the next step. The next important piece -- and this is where the forest sector is as a whole -- is to invest in -- particularly in pulp -- new fibre opportunities. Commercializing, and diversification of new fibre mixes so that new products can be made. this puts Domtar here in Dryden out on the cutting edge across Canada and this is project we'd been working on with Domtar for some time," he said.
Rickford stressed the importance of keeping Canadian idea in Canada.
"Canada has great ideas, we can get them into the laboratory, but we've struggled a little bit over the course of time turning them into products we can actually make here. Sometimes those great ideas get commercialized but they get commercialized somewhere else. We're making a strong stand here in the forest sector by today's announcement by ensuring that our fiber, which is world class, our ideas, which are world class, translate into products that are made here which will be world class," he said.
As a result of the investment Domtar will launch a first-of-its-kind, commercial-scale manufacturing facility for the new grades of pulp.
Domtar also received $20,000 (with the employer investing an additional $11,500 in the training for a total of $31,500) through the Canada Job Grant to train nine employees in the area of supervision.
"These are relatively small investments in monetary terms, but provide opportunities for people that already have technical training who are working here at Domtar but want to advance their careers and move into leadership positions. Make sure that we're training people with a job or a new job in the line of sight," he said.
The Canada Job Grant is an employer-driven approach to help Canadians gain the skills and training they need to fill available jobs.
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