What changed
RYAM has placed Témiscaming, Quebec’s paper mill into an indefinite economic shutdown after Canada-US trade talks broke down and tariffs were imposed.
Most of the mill’s 360 employees are out of work, receiving partial government tariff-relief pay while residents organize around a possible worker-backed purchase of the plant. RYAM bought the mill in 2017.
Why it matters
Témiscaming was built around this mill. Its closure threatens more than mill wages: property values have dropped, a local contractor has laid off 13 people, and residents fear grocery workers, doctors and other essential staff could leave too.
The pressure is already spreading through the regional forestry economy, including sawmills and trucking. Tariffs reaching up to 50% in exposed sectors have turned a trade dispute into a local fight over whether an entire town can keep functioning.
The town has tried this rescue once before. In 1973, workers and managers responded to a shutdown threat by buying the mill and turning it into Tembec. They now hope to repeat that outcome, but whether RYAM will sell, whether residents can finance a purchase or how long the shutdown will last remains unknown.
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