Delegates to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities’ (AVICC) annual meeting passed an emergency resolution in support of Catalyst Paper Corporation on the weekend.
The resolution asks the provincial government, with support as needed from the federal government, to do four specific things that would help Catalyst survive.
Catalyst has been under Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) creditor protection since late January. A creditor vote on a restructuring plan the company has proposed under the CCAA process has been rescheduled to May 2. If the restructuring plan is not approved by creditors, Catalyst has asked for court approval to sell its remaining mills.
The AVICC resolution asks that the province make available $30 million over five years to support new hiring and high-tech training programs at Catalyst mills. It also asks the province to provide certainty in BC Hydro rates and take action to eliminate financial risks to Catalyst due to a switch from HST to PST on electrical purchases.
As well, it asks that Catalyst HST credits of about $5 million per month that are currently frozen under the CCAA process be released. In the interim, the resolution asks the province to backstop these funds with approximately $30 million until they are released by the federal government.
The final request is to provide pension regulation modifications allowing Catalyst’s pension plan members an option of surrender of their lifetime pensions in exchange for a lump sum transfer from the plan in the approximate present value of their pension.
City of Powell River Councillor Maggie Hathaway attended the annual meeting. “I was very pleased to see this emergency resolution tabled by City of Port Alberni and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District,” she said.
The resolution mistakenly stated Catalyst has mills in three Vancouver Island municipalities, Hathaway said. “I pointed out to the conference that Powell River is not on Vancouver Island, but is in fact on the mainland,” she said.
Some may view the survival of Catalyst as vital to only the three communities in question, Hathaway added. “It appears that AVICC members see the survival of Catalyst as vital to not only the local area covered by the association, but vital to the well-being of our province,” she said. “Hopefully, there will be an opportunity for a similar motion to be made in the fall at the Union of BC Municipalities.”
