NDP Leader Howard Hampton called for immediate action to address the plight of the community of Ignace as a result of the closure of the Ignace Sawmill and closure of the Bowater Ignace Woodlands.

“The Town of Ignace, a town of 1500 people in Northwestern Ontario, has recently lost its sawmill as a direct result of the McGuinty Liberals’ softwood lumber sellout,” Hampton said. “Because of the McGuinty Liberals’ policy of driving hydro rates through the roof, the pulp and paper and sawmill industry in the Thunder Bay region has been devastated and the Ignace Woodlands are being shut down.”

“How many more good manufacturing and industrial jobs have to be lost and how many more northern towns like Ignace have to be badly hurt before Dalton McGuinty acts?” Hampton asked the Premier in Question Period today.

Right now, in Thunder Bay, the Abitibi-Consolidated and Cascades Paper Mills are closed. The Smurfit Stone Containerboard Mill is closed. The Great West Timber and Northern Hardwoods Sawmills are closed. The Bowater Paper, Pulp and Sawmills have had hundreds of layoffs and have reduced capacity. On the outskirts of Thunder Bay, the Ignace Bowater Sawmill is closed. The Red Rock Norampac Containerboard Mill is closed and the Dorion Sturgeon Timber Sawmill is closed.

“That’s 8,000 direct and indirect jobs lost in the Thunder Bay area,” Hampton said. “How many more jobs are going to be lost before the McGuinty government appoints a job commissioner to reposition these mills and sustain jobs in the Northwest?”