REPORT/ PONSSE IN CANADA
THE FIRST SCORPION IN CANADA
LES FORESTIERS MARCEL TREMBLAY & FILS
EXPERIENCE AND YOUNG POWER
IN A FAMILY BUSINESS For the Tremblays, expertise in forestry runs in the family. Marcel founded the family business in 1979. Two generations later, the joy of the work still spurs the operations as his grandchildren are about to take charge of the company.
F
orestiers Marcel Tremblay & Fils has progressed a long way from the time when Marcel started harvesting timber in the province of Quebec with a chainsaw and a forwarder. Forest machines have developed a great deal, and today they are equipped with computers that enable getting real-time data on the dimensions of logs. The machines’ location is known with the help of GPS, and through a network connection, the data can be sent directly to the plant. Mathieu, 33, Francis, 31, and Simon, 23, represent the new generation of the Tremblay family business. The brothers became shareholders three years ago, and they own 50 per cent of the company, with their father Bertrand owning the other half. In the course of the past few years, Bertrand, 59, has left the daily work with forest machines and focused on managing
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the company’s finances. He is transferring the responsibility for the company to his sons, while gradually preparing for his retirement. THE EXPERTISE OF A NEW GENERATION
When the sons joined the company’s operations, they also brought some of their friends with them. The company’s employees are now younger than ever: their average age is 33 years. When this workforce enters the forest, there are few grey-haired ones in the group. They listen to punk rock and talk about snowmobiles, jet skis and other outdoor hobbies. “We have a great atmosphere at work, and we like spending time together. This helps us find new employees, as we are always in need of good workers,” Mathieu says. The company trains its operators itself,
and has 14 employees operating its three machine chains. A new trainee is taken on almost every year. “By training new operators, we secure the future of our company,” Bertrand says. He entrusted the expensive forest machines to his sons before they were 20 years old. The quality of life is a priority for the team, which works approximately 42 weeks in a year. “We take a week’s holiday in the summer, a week during the hunting season and two weeks at Christmas. There is also a pause of 4–6 weeks in the work in the spring when the ground is too wet,” says Mathieu, who is the father of five-year-old Logan. Francis also has two sons: Aleck, 5 years old, and Jayce, 4. “Our children visit us in the forest whenever they can.”
According to Mathieu, the family business acquired its first PONSSE machine, which was a Dual machine, in 2004. They immediately liked the machines, as well as the local service offered by Hydromec. Since then, Ponsse has been the reliable machine supplier of Forestiers Marcel Tremblay & Fils. The company also purchased the first Scorpion delivered to Canada in 2014. “The machine has so much technology that it may scare a beginner,” says Mathieu, who was the first Scorpion operator in the company. The Scorpion, equipped with an H6 harvester head, is still an important machine for the company. They have also acquired two track-based Eltec harvesters with a PONSSE H7 harvester head. All the forwarders owned by the family business are PONSSE machines. In July 2021, it received a brand new Elephant King equipped with an Active Crane K121 loader. “With the new forwarder, we can improve the efficiency of our work since 20 per cent more wood fits in every grapple load,” Mathieu says. “If we don’t go forward, we will end up going backward. I hope that ten years into the future, my sons will still continue going forwards. Not just for the money, but because they like working together, as a family. This is what I want to teach them,” Bertrand concludes.
PONSSE DEALERS CANADA A.L.P.A. EQUIPMENT LTD. BALMORAL, NB 258 Drapeau St. Balmoral, NB, E8E 1H3 (506) 826 2717 balm@alpaequipment.com www.alpaequipment.com/
A.L.P.A. EQUIPMENT LTD. EDMUNDSTON, NB 470 rue Principale Saint-Jacques, NB, E7B 1Y1 (506) 735 4144 edston@alpaequipment.com www.alpaequipment.com/
A.L.P.A. EQUIPMENT LTD. FREDERICTON, NB 289 HWY 105 Maugerville, NB, E3A 5G8 (506) 452 9818 fton@alpaequipment.com www.alpaequipment.com/
A.L.P.A. EQUIPMENT LTD. TRURO, NS 69 Hub Centre Drive Upper Onslow, NS, B6L 0C8 (902) 897 2717 truro@alpaequipment.com www.alpaequipment.com/
VALHALLA EQUIPMENT INC. 7791 South Kelly Road Prince George, V2K 2H5 +1 (250) 301 4486 dan@valhallaequipment.ca
READYQUIP SALES AND SERVICE LTD. 3088 Riverside Drive Timmins ON, P4N 7X8 (705) 268-7600 WInfo@readyquip.com www.readyquip.com/
HYDROMEC INC. 2921, boul. Wallberg Dolbeau-Mistassini, G8L 1L6 (418) 276-5831 www.hydromec.ca/
HYDROMEC INC. 1114, rue Manic Chicoutimi, G7K 1A2 (418) 543-1115 www.hydromec.ca/
CAPTIVATING
MAPLE SYRUP
Maple syrup occupies nearly the position of a religion in Canada, especially in Quebec. When the temperature rises above the freezing point in the spring, sugar maple trees begin to produce sap to feed their buds. Collecting sap in warm sunshine with family and friends offers a great pastime after a long winter. Thousands of years ago, the first people living in Canada learned how to collect sap by cutting boughs or making a hole in the tree. At that time, sap was used to make maple toffee by boiling. The product could be preserved for months and was one of the only sources of sugar. Sap was also used for cooking venison. Today, techniques have been developed further, and maple syrup is very popular. Making one litre of syrup takes 40 litres of sap. One notch made in a tree produces approximately 10 litres of sap in a day at best. Two notches can be cut in the largest trees. In addition to the most popular sugar maple trees, silver maple and red maple also produce sap. Canada produces more than 70 per cent of the maple syrup in the global market. Of this, the share of the province of Quebec is 92 per cent. Growing interest and demand have increased production in the past few years at a rate of 10 per cent a year. In 2020, Canadian producers made 54 million litres of maple syrup, which were sold for $560 million. Climate change is threatening some of the southern maple forests, as the optimal conditions move north and insects cause a hazard. In the north, people are assisting in the migration by planting maples that will have optimal growing conditions in 30–50 years’ time. At the moment, the northern border of the growth of sugar maple trees is located at the region of Lac-Saint-Jean.
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