Benjamin Segobaetso – Local Journalism Initiative
Published online October 7, 2026, at www.pontiacjournal.com
Campbell’s Bay – Pontiac loggers and forestry producers are crying foul over Louisiana-Pacific’s (LP) recurring cutbacks, questioning why local producers are losing business while governments pour support into keeping the company’s Bois-Franc mill and its jobs alive.
The frustration boiled over at an October 1 meeting at the MRC Pontiac offices, where producers confronted MP Sophie Chatel and André Fortin and demanded political
intervention. Their message was blunt: Pontiac’s independent forestry operators cannot continue taking the hit every time LP scales back its wood supply. The meeting, organized by MRC Pontiac Warden Jane Toller at the producers’ request, comes as LP prepares for another slowdown at Bois-Franc.
Producers questioned why wood from outside the region and Crown forests can continue competing for mill capacity while Pontiac’s private producers are being told to cut back. At the centre of the dispute is Quebec’s wood-supply system, under which public-forest supply is intended to be left behind to other sources, and that private forests should be prioritized. Pontiac producers argued that principle is not being respected in practice and called on Quebec to step in.
Producer Trish White told political leaders that she and her husband have seen sales drop by approximately 30 per cent because of lost business.
Fortin sided with the producers’ call for provincial intervention, saying he would press Quebec to ensure the applicable rules are enforced so local operators are not losing business to larger suppliers from outside Pontiac.
Chatel faced the dispute from another direction: keeping LP and its jobs alive. She said the federal government has provided millions of dollars through a Work-Sharing arrangement over the past three years to help maintain employment at LP during periods of reduced activity. Chatel said Ottawa is also discussing how it could support modernization of the Bois-Franc mill to make the operation more sustainable over the long term.
That exposed the uncomfortable tension hanging over the meeting: governments are trying to protect jobs at the mill while the independent producers supplying the forestry industry say their own livelihoods are being squeezed.
Toller said MRC Pontiac will now table a resolution calling on Quebec to ensure that the rules concerning private-forest wood are respected. The MRC will also push for the restoration of transportation assistance that previously helped Pontiac producers haul wood to Windsor, Ontario, giving them another market when LP cuts purchases. Toller said local landowners should be encouraged to work with the regional forest producers’ board to develop management plans and harvest marketable timber from their properties.
Toller affirmed that there was agreement around the region that Pontiac needs its own mill. Until then, she added local producers remain dependent on decisions made at mills
outside the region. The producers at the meeting made it clear that they are tired of being the first ones asked to cut back whenever fall season comes.
