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Corporate shell game

Northern Pulp seeks protection from creditors in a BC court — and its largest creditor is its owner, Paper Excellence

July 19, 2020 By Joan Baxter 10 Comments

Northern Pulp — the mill in Pictou County — has gone into hibernation. And Northern Pulp — the company — is “insolvent.” It is one of seven related companies petitioning for creditor protection in the British Columbia Supreme Court, while it seeks “a plan of compromise or arrangement.” The petitioners seeking relief from debt payments, […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: 1057863 B.C. Limited, Asia Pulp and Paper, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bruce Chapman, Canso Chemicals, Catalyst Paper Corporation, Chetwynd Mechanical Pulp Inc., Chronicle Herald, corporate tax haven index, corporate welfare, deforestation, Ed Roste, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Eka Tjipta Widjaja, Euromomey, Euromoney, Forbes, former Premier John Hamm, Globe and Mail, Greenpeace, Hardi Wardhana, Hervey Investment B.V., Howe Sound Pulp and paper, Indonesia, Inter-corporate Ownership index, Jackson Widjaja, Jan Willem van Gelder, MacKenzie Pulp Inc., Mattell, Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp, Mongabay, Netherlands, Northern Pulp, Northern pulp creditor protection, Northern Pulp loans, Northern Pulp Mill, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence B.V., Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Pedro Chang, Petra Spaargaren, Prince Albert Pulp Inc., Reuters, Sinar Mas Group, Singapore, Skoomkumchuck Pulp Inc., Sugiarto Kardiman, Supreme Court of British Columbia, tax havens, Tax Justice Network, Tejuh Widjaja, Unifor

Nova Scotia government doles out $10 million more for Northern Pulp

The effluent pipeline may have been turned off but the provincial money pipeline continues to flow 

May 12, 2020 By Joan Baxter

The Nova Scotian government will be giving Paper Excellence, the parent company of Northern Pulp and a corporation linked to the multi-billionaire Widjaja family of Indonesia, still more millions. This time, the amount is $10 million. Northern Pulp still owes the province $85 million from previous loans. And the company still owes $65 million on...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: A’se’K, Boar Harbour, Boat Harbour remediation project, Bruce Chapman, Environmental Racism, Ken Swain, Kristina Shannon, Marla MacInnis, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp effluent, Paper Excellence, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil

Northern Pulp says it will continue to operate as a business

January 10, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson

Nova Scotians learned two new and startling facts following a meeting of cabinet ministers in Halifax yesterday. Asked if he plans to stay and fight another election, Premier Stephen McNeil said yes, he’s staying. An hour later, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia issued a statement saying it wants to stay in Nova Scotia. The company is...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: biomass, Boat Harbour, hot idle, Minister Iain Rankin, NDP leader Gary Burrill, Northern Pulp closure, Paper Excellence, PC MLA Tory Rushton, Port Hawkesbury Paper, Premier Darrell Dexter, Premier Stephen McNeil

Northern Pulp, past and future: It ain’t over till it’s over

January 10, 2020 By Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

On December 20, 2019 Premier Stephen McNeil announced that the province would be respecting the Boat Harbour Act, and that Northern Pulp would have to stop pumping its effluent into the Boat Harbour treatment facility on January 31, 2020. Without the use of Boat Harbour, the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County would have no […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Adam McInnis, Atlas Holdings, Blue Wolf Capita, Boat Harbour Act, Brian Baarda, Brian Hebert, Chief Andrea Paul, Elmsdale Lumber, Graham Kissack, hot idle, Kathy Cloutier, Kelliann Dean, Minister Gordon Wilson, MP Peter MacKay, Northern Pulp closure, Northern Pulp loans, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber, Paper Excellence, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Darrell Dexter, Premier John Hamm, Premier Stephen McNeil, Robin Wilber, Widjaja family

The Northern Pulp saga is a “really, really, really, really difficult time” for Pictou Landing First Nation

Morning File, Friday, December 20, 2019

December 20, 2019 By Tim Bousquet and Joan Baxter 7 Comments

News 1. A “really, really, really, really difficult time” Joan Baxter wrote this item. About 300 people gathered yesterday in the school gymnasium at Pictou Landing First Nation for a rally to support the Boat Harbour Act. That legislation, passed in 2015 by Premier Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government with support of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: A’se’K, Boat Harbour Act, Brian Baarda, Chief Andrea Paul, Clean the Mill, convention centre hotel, Derek Ross, Dr. Richard Strauss, Elizabeth McMillan, Forest Nova Scotia, Haley Ryan, Jaddus Joseph Poirier, Linda Little, Lt. Derek de Jong, Michael Patrick McNutt, Murray Prest, Northern Pulp, Nova Centre, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, Paper Excellence, Philip Croucher, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil, Ralph Francis, Renee Ross, Scott Maritimes, Star Halifax, Stirling McLean, Sutton Place Hotels, Taryn Grant, Unifor, Utility and Review Board, Wade Prest, Yvette d'Entremont, Zane Woodford

Pictou Landing First Nation: “We are sticking to the January 31, 2020 date”

December 17, 2019 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

It didn’t take Northern Pulp long to start issuing thinly veiled threats. Just before noon Tuesday, Nova Scotia Environment Minister Gordon Wilson announced that the company that owns the Pictou County pulp mill would have to submit a full environmental assessment report for its new effluent treatment facility. That process that could take two years, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour remediation project, Brian Hebert, Chief Andrea Paul, Michelle Francis-Denny, Minister Gordon Wilson, Northern Pulp, Paper Excellence, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN)

No federal assessment will be required for Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment project

December 17, 2019 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Yesterday, four days before his announcement was due on the Northern Pulp effluent treatment proposal, and less than 24 hours before the deadline for the provincial environment minister to announce his decision, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson released a statement saying that he had “decided not to designate the Northern Pulp project […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs, Caribou Harbour, Coldwater Lobster Association, Earnscliffe Strategy Group, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, Gulf Nova Scotia Fleet Planning Board, Impact Assessment Act, Impact Assessment Agency (IAA), Justice Timothy Gabriel, Maritime Fishermen’s Union, Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island, Millbrook First Nation, Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister Margaret Miller, Northern Pulp effluent, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Northern Pulp lobbyist, Northumberland Strait Sportfishing Association, Paper Excellence, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Dennis King, Premier Stephen McNeil, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association, Sipekne'katik First Nation, Trevor Floyd, Velma McColl

Nova Scotia has a mercury problem

Facilities associated with Northern Pulp Mill's proposed effluent pipe are immediately adjacent to a mercury-contaminated toxic waste site left over from the Canso Chemicals operation

April 9, 2019 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Cover photo: A Mad Tea-Party by Lewis Carroll with the Hatter, March Hare and Alice. It turns out that using a lot of mercury, as human beings have done for centuries — in everything from haberdashery to gold production to medicine — wasn’t such a great idea after all. Although this realization came only in […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Adele Poirier, Canso Chemicals, David Depew, Dillon Consulting, Domtar, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), erithism mercurialis, Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP), gold mines, Grassy Narrows First Nation, Liberal Party fundraiser, Linda M Campbell, mercury, mine tailings, Minimata Convention on Mercury, Minimata disease, Neil M Burgess, Northern Pulp Mill, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Olin Corporation, Paper Excellence, Peter Hodson, Pictou Harbour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Reed Paper, United Nations Environment (UNEP), Wabaseemoong First Nation, Wabigoon River

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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