Union calls for Thunder Bay, Ont., paper mill to diversify amid newsprint operations shutdown

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Union leaders say there are opportunities for Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper to pivot to other paper products once it stops producing newsprint — but support from all levels of government is needed.

The company announced on Thursday that it will be discontinuing its newsprint mill operations due to a significant decline in demand, a decision that will affect 150 workers. 

Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper will continue to operate as a single-line Softwood Kraft mill and generate renewable energy for sale to the Ontario grid, it says.

Rob St. Jean is president of Unifor Local 257, which represents 31 workers at Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper. He’s also president of the Ontario Primary Forestry Council.

While he said the news didn’t come as a surprise, “it was definitely a hard shot to take.”

“For every one job at Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper, there might be up to eight local individuals [who] will be directly affected by it,” St. Jean told CBC News on Friday. 

Other affected positions that aren’t represented by Unifor Local 257 include electrical workers, steam plant engineers and company jobs, he said.

North American demand for newsprint has declined by 40 per cent since 2022 and by 18 per cent in 2025 alone, according to Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper.

In the digital age where people can look up information in an instant on their smartphones, St. Jean said the “writing has been on the wall” for a while now.

“The opportunity for news print has been lost, but not the need for paper product,” he said.

“The diversification is where we need to look moving forward. We need all levels of government — municipal, federal, provincial — to get on board.”

Federal government responds 

Patty Hajdu, MP for Thunder Bay—Superior North and federal minister of jobs and families, says the mill’s discontinuation of newsprint operations “is deeply concerning for workers, families and the Thunder Bay community.”

“Across the country, forestry workers are facing serious challenges as the global trade environment rapidly shifts,” she wrote in a statement Friday.

U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber imports are now at 45 per cent.

Several mills across northwestern Ontario have been hit hard by market pressures in the forestry sector in recent months: 

 Courtesy: www.cbc.ca