Day 056 - 28 Nov 94 - Page 55
1 Western United States, are the source of supply of the
2 packaging material for McDonald's. If, in fact, somebody
3 tells me they are, it may be relevant, but certainly from
4 the information I have been given, the mills in Canada,
5 nine of the mills are in the east of Canada and two of them
6 are in the middle of Canada and none of them are in the
7 western area. But if I have been given wrong information
8 I am happy to answer the question.
9
10 Q. There is old growth in the centre of Canada, is there not?
11 A. Well, yes, in point of fact it will be identifiable old
12 growth anywhere in any forest region, but if you would like
13 me to address the situation in the middle of Canada,
14 certainly let us assume that a proportion of the forest
15 supplying the two mills which are in the middle area out of
16 48 mills in the United States and Canada, those two mills
17 do draw from existing mature forest or old-growth forest.
18 I think the points that I have been trying to make in this
19 report and elsewhere, is that the management of those
20 old-growth forests includes the taking out from the forest,
21 forest that has suffered either pest disease, wind throw,
22 or in the course of producing construction materials
23 produces a waste and that some proportion of that waste
24 might well go into packaging for McDonald's.
25
26 That is something which will have to be seen on a
27 mill-by-mill basis and it would be by the very nature of
28 the placing of those mills a very small proportion of their
29 production, because no one, as far as I can see, is very
30 likely to place a pulp mill in the middle of on old-growth
31 forest. They would not find a sustainable resource over
32 the years ahead if they did. It is almost certain that a
33 pulp mill of this kind will be placed where regenerated
34 forest and plantation forest are the major source of
35 supply.
36
37 I make that statement so that you can ask me a further
38 question, but it is certainly my belief in everything
39 I have looked at so far, that pulp mills have been placed
40 where the resource for the future is essentially on a
41 sustained yield basis and from plantation forest and not
42 from old-growth forest.
43
44 Q. But if old-growth forests are being cut, the wood is going
45 to mills somewhere?
46 A. Old-growth forest, if we are talking about the genuine
47 trees of old-growth forest and not those that have been
48 blown down or not those that have in one way or another
49 ceased to be growing, the old-growth forest trees will all
50 be going for construction materials and not for paper and
51 pulp. It would be the residue and waste of that sawmill
52 product or plywood mill product that might go into paper
53 making.
54
55 Q. There are paper mills, though, based right by old-growth
56 forests, are there not, for example in North Alberta which
57 uses old-growth forests? Is it called Al Pack, a very
58 large pulp mill?
59 A. Yes.
60
