KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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MARCH 3, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 27
SIX BID ON BRIDGE
WEATHER Sunny and cool High 3 C Low -9 C
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 125 cm Alpine: 159 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
TANNER TAMES THE MAROONS
Contract may be awarded March 10
Valleyview’s Tanner Farber sinks winning shot to send Vikings to B.C. championship
A5
A11
After a halfcentury, Arclin closes city plant
understanding “isMy they did an internal review that had actually showed Kamloops the best place for the southern helicopter, but chose to ignore their own study and put it in Kelowna .
CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
A chemical plant that traces its roots in Kamloops back a half-century will shut its doors in June. Arclin Performance Applied will lay off seven employees when it closes the plant. “It’s strictly a business decision,” said Martin Forest, the company’s director of manufacturing in Kamloops. “Business in the region has been slow for the past four to five years.” Arclin’s plant on Kingston Avenue in North Kamloops manufactures glues used in construction panels and has operated under a number of corporations since the mid-1960s, Forest said. Sales volumes never returned following 2008’s Great Recession. It also operated under Neste Resins. “Our business is highly dependent on housing starts,” Forest said. Some of Arclin’s customers supply the U.S. housing market. That market has rebounded from lows set in the recession, but remains at least 30 per cent below its historical average of about 1.5-million units a year. The company said North American-wide starts remain below the 20-year average. It has been operating recently at 30 per cent capacity, while its job numbers were double in the past. Forest said the company has brought in a jobplacement firm and there may be opportunity for some employees to move to other operations, the closest of which are in the Pacific Northwest. Arclin’s nearest Canadian plants are in Ontario and Quebec. The closure is another loss for the Interior’s once-powerful value-added manufacturing sector in wood products. In the past decade, veneer manufacturers, cedar processors and other small operations have been shuttered. See FATE OF LAND, A4
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— KAMLOOPS MAYOR PETER MILOBAR
CHOPPER DECISION DISAPPOINTS
MAYOR, TRANSPORTATION MINISTER WILL SEEK OUT MORE INFORMATION CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
According to Mayor Peter Milobar, an RCMP review found Kamloops is the best location for an Interior police helicopter, but the national police force chose to ignore that study. Both Milobar and Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone said they will seek more information after the RCMP acknowledged it will move its Air 4 helicopter from to Prince George from Kamloops this summer. Prince George, which services the RCMP’s north district, has no helicopter, while the southeast district has units in Kamloops and Kelowna. A fixed-wing aircraft will be correspondingly moved to Kamloops from Prince George. Milobar was vacationing when con-
tacted by KTW and replied to questions via email. He said he was not informed of the move and will seek explanation from the RCMP. “My understanding is they did an internal review that had actually showed Kamloops the best place for the southern helicopter, but chose to ignore their own study and put it in Kelowna,” Milobar said. The RCMP distributed a statement last week, stating the move was for operational reasons and that the north district comprises 70 per cent of the province. Kamloops Search and Rescue said delays or unavailability of the Kelownabased helicopter could harm ability to swiftly search for lost people and will hamper training opportunities. Stone said he was not briefed on the
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move, which he called disappointing. “I understand there was no input requested of the province,” Stone said in an interview. “I found out the same time as everyone else. I’m not happy about it.” Stone said he will meet with Attorney General Suzanne Anton to find out more about the decision. Following that, he will speak with Milobar. Milobar said he is travelling to Kelowna this week to meet with senior RCMP officials on the helicopter move and other issues. Along with Air 4’s move north will go pilots, flight officers and maintenance engineers. Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are used by RCMP for tasks including patrols and surveillance, searches, operational support and to quickly transport members and equipment around B.C.
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