Prolenc Manufacturing is one of many businesses to receive funding from the B.C. Government

By Tommy Osborne

North B.C. Manufacturing

Government diversifying economy amid pulpmill, sawmill shutdowns

May 23, 2024 | 4:28 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Following a string of pulpmill and sawmill closures in Northern B.C that has impacted communities like Chetwynd, Houston B.C., Prince George, and more, the B.C. Government announced $13 million of funding for manufacturing businesses in north B.C. While the government says forestry will always be heavily supported, as it remains one of our province’s biggest industries, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation Brenda Bailey says diversifying the economy is a big focus.

“We know the forestry sector has been hit by a whole bunch of different factors, including what the markets look like right now. For example, we know that yellow pine is almost half of the price folks are getting than they were just a year ago. So there’s a lot of really difficult things that are facing the forestry sector kind of all at once,” Bailey said.

Prolenc Manufacturing, a metal manufacturing company in Prince George, was one of many funding recipients. It received up to $254 thousand to purchase and install new machinery that will enhance its manufacturing capabilities and increase efficiency.

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“It’s going to streamline what we do and help us become more efficient. We think we’re going to actually provide two new jobs out of this once we get up and get going and get the whole process happening,” said Prolenc Manufacturing Owner Kevin Hodgins.

While Prolenc isn’t directly a forestry company, Hodgins explained it has strong ties to the forestry industry, estimating 1/3 of its operations provide parts for forestry equipment. This includes things like swing brakes for loading grapples and harvesting heads, skitter grapples, and more. However, it also has strong involvement in the mining industry too, and the chance to further diversify its business was a reason why Prolenc applied for the government funding, as the forestry industry shutdowns does impact Prolenc’s operations as well.

“The less volumes that are harvested here in the province, it affects the total volume of business in whatever sectors related to the actual forest harvesting and manufacturing business,” Hodgins said.

“We’re a service company to the core drilling segment of the mining exploration business. We do a lot with spare parts, and we actually build complete drill heads,” he continued.

While diversifying the economy is undoubtedly a focus for the provincial government, Minister Bailey pointed out the government continues to heavily invest and fund the forestry industry, saying half of all manufacturing funds are towards the forestry industry.

“If you look on the website of all the investments that we’ve made with manufacturing jobs, which are many now, a lot of them are forestry and many of them are in the north. So it’s actually quite a broad range,” Bailey said.

When announcing the shutdowns of sawmills and pulpmills Canfor cited a shortage of economically available wood fiber, so how can the government support forestry with these shortages? Bailey explained a huge aspect of it is focusing on the refining process, like investing in mass timber facilities, among others.

“I come from a forestry family, my dad worked in the forestry sector and I grew up in Nanaimo, and I remember just always seeing these giant, beautiful logs being shipped out to Japan from Nanaimo, and no value added, just raw logs. And we can do better than that,” Bailey said.

Other non-forestry manufacturers receiving funding in north B.C. are Grosso Precast Ltd in Williams Lake, and Monster Industries ltd. in Terrace.

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