Brink makes pitch to buy three shuttered Canfor mills and timber rights

The Brink Group of Companies is hoping to purchase Canfor’s shuttered sawmill assets in Bear Lake, Vanderhoof, and Fort St. John.

That includes timber rights of those operations, plus the timber rights of the Houston sawmill, says John Brink, founder and CEO of the Brink Group. He has sent a letter of intent to Canfor and is seeking support from First Nations, labour, and the B.C. government.

The Brink Group, among other interests, is a value-added wood producer in B.C. and Brink has long advocated for more value-added manufacturing in the province.

In a recent podcast, Brink said he was already looking at purchasing the Bear Lake mill prior to the most recent closure announcements.

“The reason we did is that not only to complement our current operation, but to expand our operations to further manufacturing, including mass timber,” he said. “We have already bought equipment for another finger-jointing plant here, as well as expand our operations in Vanderhoof and Houston.”

As a value-added producer, the Brink Group does not have timber rights and relies on primary producers for the fibre it uses for its products. The recent Canfor closures puts that fibre supply in jeopardy.

“(The closures) puts us, and others, in a position where we can no longer protect our company … that we will have sufficient fibre,” he said. “I’m the sole owner of all my companies, I have to protect the interest of my employees.”

He said he is getting calls from employees asking what will happen to their jobs.

“I need to provide them with comfort,” he said. “For me to say ‘I don’t know’ is not an answer for me … While Polar may supply us with fibre for our operations in Prince George, our operations in Vanderhoof and Houston are still at risk (as a result of the recent closures).”

Thus, the proposal to purchase the three shuttered mills and their timber rights, plus the timber rights of the Houston mill, which Canfor closed indefinitely late last year, pending a decision to build a new mill there. The ultimate decision was to not rebuild the Houston mill.

Brink said if he acquires the Houston timber rights, he will build a mill there, “if we can convince Canfor, First Nations, and the government that this is the right direction to go.”

He said this would protect the Brink Group’s value-added manufacturing and give it the opportunity to expand. He said in Prince George, where Brink already employs 400 people, a new finger-joint plant would be added, creating another 150 jobs. He said the company would also restart its remanufacturing facility,

“We are committed to make this work,” he said. “To make a bad news story into a success story … It is an opportunity to not only restart those operations, but go beyond that.”

He said his goal is to eventually create 1,500 direct and 3,500 indirect jobs.

“We have to extract more social and economic value from our resources,” Brink said. “We must also give comfort to entrepreneurialism and capital that B.C. is still a good province and has a good future.”

He also called on both the provincial and federal governments to fight ever-increasing tariffs on lumber heading to the U.S.