Bowater Forest Products
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Bowater Forest Products in Thunder Bay, Ontario began as Great Lakes Forest Products (GLFP) in 1898. Investments by American entrepreneurs from Chicago and Minneapolis created one of the largest paper and newsprint mills in the world on the northern shore of the Kaministiquia River. The mill was built just outside city limits to take advantage of the lower rural tax rates, but still allow usage of urban manufacturing labour.
By the early 1970s Bowater Forest Products had become the world's largest paper mill, and employed over 4,000 people. But within 10 years mechanisation processes imported from Finland began to drastically reduce the workforce necessary to operate the mill. Today, while the mill produces over half a million tonnes of newsprint annually (and as much again in pulp), it employs less than 1,500 people.
