Thank you, and welcome everyone. I’m very happy to be here on behalf of Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, and the PM of Canada, Stephen Harper

Although I’m here to bring some very good news today — I’d first like to acknowledge that this has been a challenging time for Canada’s pulp and paper industry.

Yet, well before the arrival of this global recession, this industry, and especially Alberta Pacific, was already innovating, reinventing, and making hard decisions to advance its competitiveness in a global market.

The good news today for us all today is that the economy is showing positive signs of recovery, and housing construction and renovation is on the rise, both here in Canada and the United States.  

In August, housing peaked in the US at its highest level in nine months, and Canada’s housing market has also exceeded expectations, advancing 12 percent in the same month.  

It’s evident that stimulus in Canada is making a difference.  The Economic Action Plan included many measures to help individuals and industries; such as the home renovation tax credits, a substantial increase to our ecoENERGY Home Retrofit program, and market expansion programs.

But our Government recognizes the special challenges facing Canada’s forest sector, and its pulp and paper industry in particular

With advice from your industry, we have adopted a two-pronged approach:

On the one hand, we’ve been helping forest-dependent communities to weather the short-term challenges through initiatives like the $1-billion Community Adjustment Fund, and Employment Assistance and Worker retraining programs

On the other hand, we’ve been working to help position Canada’s forest-sector growth for the longer-term,   investing $170 million, over two years, to advance innovation and create new markets for Canadian forest products to reduce the sector’s reliance on the U.S. market.

Finally, through the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program we’re also helping to improve the environmental performance of Canada’s pulp and paper industry, because in today’s global economy, competitiveness means sustainability.
With our Government’s investment in the Green Transformation Program, pulp producers have one-time access to $1 billion to fund capital investments that will improve the energy efficiency of Canada’s pulp and paper mills; and boost Canada’s production of renewable energy from forest biomass.

That’s why I’m so pleased to be here today to announce today that Alberta Pacific will be receiving a combined total of $ 62,869,884 which will allow you to finance green projects at Alpac pulp and paper facilities  

I am so pleased and proud to be here today to reaffirm our commitment to this industry, to applaud achievements you have made, and to encourage new and innovative investments in the near future.

Thank you.