Mayor Surinderpal Rathor broke the news of an impending temporary mill shut down in Williams Lake during the regular council meeting on Sept. 24.
Rathor said he had a call from someone at Tolko'Industries Limited giving him the heads up a 30-day shutdown of the Soda Creek Division mill would begin on Monday, Sept. 30.
Tolko Industries Communications Advisor Chris Downey confirmed the announcement, citing challenging lumber markets, increased U.S. tariffs and the availability of economic fibre in the province as reasons for the temporary downtime.
Downey said the planer will continue to operate for an estimated two more weeks after the Soda Creek sawmill stops producing in order to process inventory.
"This is not ideal," he said, adding the downtime will impact an estimated 50 workers.
"We recognize the impact this has on our workforce, and we would always rather be fully operational. This is a business decision that in no way reflects upon the commitment of the people who work at Soda Creek — it is being made to ensure our operations are sustainable for the future," added Downey via email.
This announcement comes less than a week after Tolko began a two-week shutdown of a mill in Armstrong, B.C. from Sept. 16 until Oct. 1.
Rathor expressed his concern for the impact of the closure on the community and what the shut down indicates about the health of the forest industry.
"The picture does not look that rosy," Rathor said of the city's budget prospects for 2025, warning citizens there will have to be "belt tightening" in next year's budget.
"We are a resource-based community," he said.
This story has been udpated to include a response from Tolko Industries Ltd.