St. Mary's Paper
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St. Marys Paper Ltd. operates a 240,000 tons per year paper mill producing SCA premium, SCA and SCB paper grades under the trade names Sequence, Sequel and Synpress. Paper produced at the mill is primarily purchased by magazine publishers and large retail companies for high quality advertising inserts, flyers and catalogues.
St. Mary's Paper is a supercalendared grade paper mill with three paper machines. At one time it was an Abitibi mill, used for research and development, but was sold to a private investor, Dan Alexander, who invested heavily in a new paper machine (#5). The company went bankrupt and was operated for several years by Ernst & Young. A private investor, Ron Stern, of Belgravia Investments, purchased the mill and made the facility viable with the assistance of the employees, the Ontario government and the TD Bank.
The mill is now a major employer in Sault Ste. Marie. However in 2004 and in late 2005 due to the country's hardships with the forestry industry, many mills have been forced to close and lay off employees. This was the case with St. Mary's Paper which on December 14, 2005 announced it was laying off an additional 14 employees. In 2004 the mill laid off 50 employees to help with cost cutting initiatives.
As of 2006, the mill currently operates with 380 employees. Furthermore, in 2006 the company announced a 20% reduction in pay for employees due to the forest industry's rising energy costs and lack of government support for the forestry industry in Canada. The pay reduction will help the company avoid hundreds of layoffs and keep the Sault Ste. Marie paper mill in operation unlike many other mills across Ontario and Canada which have been forced to close.
On October 25, 2006, St. Mary's Paper announced that it filed under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in Toronto. The mill is currently seeking protection due to bankruptcy and is confident that the operation can be restructured. St. Mary's Paper cites the high Canadian dollar and rising energy costs for its declaration of bankruptcy. The legislation that the company has filed under is the same legislation that Algoma Steel filed under in 2001. The mill will continue operations and supply its customers until the restructuring is complete.
On February 19, 2007, Sault Ste. Marie City Council reported that they would forgive St. Mary's Paper of $386,000 in Municipal taxes that were owing. St. Mary's wanted to have a much larger amount forgiven but Council advised that it was the best they could do. The agreement is conditional based upon St. Mary's being able to reach a deal with their unions by February 20 and continuing operations in Sault Ste. Marie.
The mill is visible on the Sault Ste. Marie waterfront and from the International Bridge.
