Stephenville's mayor says it's never too early to start working on the economic recovery associated with the loss of a major industry.
There may be many years left for Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, but indications last week are that some job reductions are likely coming to the mill. The fact the newsprint industry continues to spiral downward may also mean Corner Brook could one day find itself in the same position Stephenville did when its mill was shut for good in 2005.
Following the closure in Stephenville, a task force was set up to help facilitate the region's economic recovery. Stephenville Mayor O'Brien said there were many proverbial irons put in the fire in terms of generating economic activity, some of which worked out and some which did not.
"For the most part, we ended up doing things we should have been doing before the mill closed," Mayor O'Brien said last week.
Those things included creating a more business-friendly climate, and marketing the region as a place that would work with anyone who had any ideas to create or sustain business in the area.
It may be too early for a formal entity like an economic task force to help foster economic diversification in Corner Brook, but Mayor O'Brien said ensuring all potential developments are given ample consideration is always important.
"The Corner Brook (city) council is pretty progressive now and the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade is very active," he said. "Those groups should certainly be talking to each other and brainstorming to see what they can do."
Should the worst-case scenario occur in Corner Brook, Mayor O'Brien said, caution has to be exercised when dealing with those who come forward looking to take advantage of government stimulus funding that might be made available in the aftermath of a closure.
The task force in Stephenville, said Mayor O'Brien, was approached by entities looking for as much as 80 or 90 cents on the dollar from government sources to help their business cases, many of which Mayor O'Brien said didn't hold water or would have only offered short-term benefits.
"You do need to approach every file as if it is a legitimate business venture that could help your community, but at the same token, you can't get bogged down with ones that are not going to go anywhere, because the legitimate files will sometimes suffer because of that," he said.
One of the success stories that has come Stephenville's way since the mill closure has been a salmon hatchery being built by Northern Harvest Sea Farms Ltd. The project has been in the works for about two years, doesn't expect to be in full production at its newly built hatchery until May 2013 and is not dependent on any government money.
"When you can get a company spending that kind of money in your community and see the new facilities they have built, you know they are here for the long term," said Mayor O'Brien.
Generating economic activity isn't always about importing brand new development, Mayor O'Brien said.
"You can't fall into the trap of ignoring some of the things you already have to build on, like helping a local business or educational institution expand," he said.
Corner Brook Mayor Neville Greeley said the city is concerned with the possibility of any reduction in the paper mill's current workforce, but also agreed that a task force is not what's needed right now.
"Setting up a task force might be a nice thing to do, but you have to wonder what the mandate would be," Mayor Greeley said.
Just as there are lessons to be gleaned from Stephenville's experience with economic recovery, Mayor Greeley believes the Corner Brook mill itself has learned from the decisions of those in charge of the mills in Stephenville and Grand Falls-Windsor which led to the demise of both those operations.
"There seems to be a willingness on the part of the unions in Corner Brook to keep the mill profitable and operating," said Mayor Greeley.
- Western Star
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