A major employer in the Quinte region is shuttering two of its locations.
Quinte News has learned that staff at Cascades in Quinte West and Belleville were told they would be laid off.
Vice-President, Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Hugo D’Armours talked to Quinte News about the closure.
He says it will effect 230 employees in our region.
D’Armours says in Quinte West, there has not been production since January 24 and it will not restart.
At the Quinte West site along the Trent River, 148 employees were laid off. They are members of Unifor Local 1470.
In Belleville on University Avenue, 80 employees were told about the closure Tuesday.
The Belleville location makes boxes, while the Quinte West site produces medium paper, which is a corrugated paper in the middle of boxes.
Staff will be paid until April 12.
“At some point both properties will be on sale. In the case of Trenton, it might take longer. We’re going to dismantle the facility. It’s going to take a while to do that.”
“He’s (Hugo D’Armours) telling me that it’s the market, that the market wants 110 inch paper and they produce 97 inch. So he said we’re out of the market and we’ve spent so many millions in this plant, we can’t see putting more in, when we’re not going to make a profit.”
“Cascades had a great group of employees. A lot of them have been in there a long time. They’re skill-trained and most of the industries in the Industrial Park will look at that and say, these are the people that we want to be employed by our company.”
We are told the company will work with the City of Quinte West, the City of Belleville, and the Province of Ontario to assist workers to either move to another Cascades production facility, or look for new work.
The Belleville Cascades was acquired by the company in 2005. That site was created in 1973. They are located at 340 University Avenue in Belleville. There were a few dozen employees eliminated in 2022.
1997 was the year Cascades was purchased from Domtar in Quinte West. At that time the site was a joint venture called Norampac. That building was constructed in 1927.
Employees will be offered positions at other Cascades locations, with the closest sites being in Scarborough and Mississauga.
