GASP, QC — A Gasp town devastated by the closing of its main employer has received some encouraging news — a $400-million plan to buy and reopen the Gaspesia paper mill. Newsprint giant Abitibi-Co…
GASP, QC — A Gasp town devastated by the closing of its main employer has received some encouraging news — a $400-million plan to buy and reopen the Gaspesia paper mill. Newsprint giant Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. closed the plant in Chandler last October, with the loss of more than 500 jobs — a staggering blow to a town of 3500 people. Recently, the Fonds de Solidarit, a Quebec labor-sponsored venture-capital fund, joined Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin and forest-industry promoter Clermont Levasseur in bidding for the mill. The group plans to convert the plant, formerly a newsprint producer, to manufacture glossy magazine paper. “The demand for coated free sheets is increasing,” Levasseur said. “And by recycling fibre supply, we are encouraging the regrowth and redistribution of the Gasp region’s forests for other users.” There are several steps that need to take place, however, cautioned Levasseur, “before the transaction is concluded.”
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