Geoff Dawe, president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada which represents more than 400 workers at the Crofton pulp mill (pictured), said a special task force proposed to be established by North Cowichan to study the reasons for the woes in the forest industry could be counterproductive. (Citizen file)
Originally Posted in the Cowichan Valley Citizen on Wednesday, February 4, 2026
By Robert Barron
The national head of the union representing workers at the Crofton pulp mill is not in favour of efforts to have a special task force formed locally to investigate the reasons for the troubles in the forest industry.
Geoff Dawe is the president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada which represents more than 400 workers at the Crofton pulp mill, which will soon close permanently.
He spoke to North Cowichan’s council at its meeting on Jan. 21 about a proposed motion by Coun. Tek Manhas for the municipality to set up the special task force that, if approved, would undertake an investigation into the reasons for the closure of the Crofton mill and the ongoing curtailment of the Chemainus sawmill, impacting another approximately 150 workers.
The task force would look into the availability of fibre supply, the cost of fibre, the timelines for timber permit approvals and other factors that are said to be harming the forest industry.
Dawe told council that he’s against the formation of the task force.
He said there’s been a lot of effort put in by the PPWC and others to make the gains made to date federally and provincially to support the workers at the Crofton mill.
Dawe said the issues that the task force would investigate, including the availability of fibre supply and the cost of fibre, have already been the focus of public inquiries and are public knowledge.
“So I have to ask why is this (task force) being created?” he asked council.
“I understand the short- and long-term effects on the Cowichan Valley are going to be devastating and somewhat catastrophic. There’s nothing really that’s going to replace this type of business and financial input into the community.”
But Dawe said that his concern is that a task force that is not well directed and and not working collaboratively with his union and its workers may get into some finger pointing at government, which would only set the work that has been done to date backwards.
“The workers won’t benefit from it and, first and foremost, that’s who’s important here,” he said.
“I’m on a lot of these committees, federally and provincially, and I encourage all council members that if you want to know about any of these items that are on the list (for the task force to investigate), I’ll take your phone call and speak to you, but nobody at any time other than Mayor Rob Douglas has spoken to me.”
North Cowichan council is expected to discuss the motion to create the special task force at its next meeting in February.
