With Hudbay planning to reduce its Flin Flon workforce in the next few years, our leaders would be wise to stop playing politics.
Apparently that’s too much to ask.
Cliff Cullen, Manitoba’s minister of growth, enterprise and trade, couldn’t resist taking a shot at his NDP predecessors as he failed to answer three basic questioned posed to him last week.
In actual fact, The Reminder’s questions were emailed to a spokeswoman for Premier Brian Pallister. We asked Pallister for his reaction to the news from Hudbay, what role the province might play and whether his government would consider direct support for Hudbay to help keep the zinc plant open.
What came back was a hollow three-sentence response not from Pallister, but from Cullen, who said in part: “Under the previous provincial government, decisions were made based on short-term solutions and political gain, which we can now recognize were made in poor judgment.”
It sounded a lot like the tin-eared claptrap Cullen spewed in response to the Port of Churchill closure and the since-averted shutdown (full credit to Cullen and his team) of the paper mill in The Pas.
Of course Cullen is the same man who, while in opposition, tried to turn the inevitable depletion of ore at 777 mine into a political issue. He issued a statement in December 2015, right after Hudbay confirmed 777 would not last beyond about 2020.
In that statement, Cullen said Flin Flon was “understandably concerned” by the news and accused the NDP of providing “misinformation on the state of mining in Manitoba.”
He also vowed his PCs “would develop the potential of the greenstone belt” and emphasized the “need to find the resources, keep the existing jobs while creating new ones, and develop wealth in the North.”
Cullen seemingly tried to blame the NDP for the multi-year depletion of 777 ore and the failure of Hudbay and other mining companies to pinpoint a new mine near Flin Flon. What a patronizing stretch.
Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton reacted to Hudbay’s statements in part by attacking the company, demanding it own up to its “real agenda” – an inappropriate tack considering the circumstances.
Ashton also asked, “Where is the provincial government? Where is the federal government?”
So how should governments approach this situation? In the most proactive, apolitical way possible.
Based on preliminary estimates, Hudbay plans to reduce its Flin Flon workforce by at least 500 positions by 2019 or 2020. The company hopes to limit layoffs to 200, with the remainder of the jobs cut through attrition.
This best-case scenario assumes the company can keep its zinc plant running at a reported 60 per cent of its current capacity by processing ore from Lalor mine. If the zinc plant closes, Hudbay pegs total reductions at 800 to 900 positions.
Based on the company’s workforce level as of May 2016, that would leave about 450 to 550 Hudbay jobs between Flin Flon and Snow Lake, with most of them in the latter community. Hudbay would retain the capacity to restart operations if another mine is developed in the future.
At this time, Hudbay has asked workers to help determine how the zinc plant, oxygen plant and powerhouse can save
$15 million in annual operating costs. Without the savings, the zinc plant will be lost.
Priority one for everyone must now be keeping the zinc plant viable. This would save hundreds of well-paying jobs and help ensure Flin Flon remains a top-of-mind region for future mineral exploration.
Upper levels of government must be open to the possibility of a public subsidy, as unpopular as those can be. Other industries receive subsidies to preserve jobs. Surely this is a case that warrants such.
Flin Flon will evolve in the coming years, but if the right approaches begin now, the impact may be far less severe than the worst-case scenarios being bandied about in recent weeks.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
