Abitibi wants Grand Falls mill closed: Williams

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said Friday he believes newsprint giant AbitibiBowater is intent on closing its only remaining mill in the province.

AbitibiBowater has said it will need to lay off scores of employees and contract out services in order for its Grand Falls-Windsor mill to survive, and that it cannot afford to modernize the mill's aging equipment.

Williams said that without any new capital investment, the mill will deteriorate and collapse.

"So it appears they just want out," Williams told reporters Friday.

"I think they're just going to try to hang it on the government or the union and try and blame us or them. But, you know, we're working very closely with the union [and] our goal is to make sure we get the best possible result for the workers and the community."

Members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union have overwhelmingly rejected an AbitibiBowater restructuring plan, which would include at least 170 layoffs and see woodland jobs contracted out.

Williams also said the government would fight AbitibiBowater vigorously should it close the mill while holding on to power-generating assets at Star Lake and on the Exploits River. The Newfoundland and Labrador government purchases power from those assets.

Williams said the government is looking at its legal options in relation to those assets if the company closes the mill, including directing Hydro not to purchase any of the company's power.

"If they try to shut down that mill, then when it comes to hydro assets, we will do whatever we can," Williams told reporters after attending swearing-in ceremonies for Kevin Parsons and Kevin Pollard, who were elected in byelections in August.

"We will fight tooth and nail through the courts in order to keep them from basically closing down the mill operation and, at the end of the day, keeping the lucrative power assets."

AbitibiConsolidated, which would later merge with rival Bowater, closed its newsprint mill in Stephenville, on Newfoundland's west coast, in 2005.