BIG RIVER SAWMILL CURTAILMENT LATEST IN SERIES OF SCOTT MOE FAILURES, BROKEN PROMISES ON FORESTRY

Jobs Lost, Communities Take Major Hits As Data Shows Forestry & Logging Activity Shrinking Under Sask. Party
SASKATOON – Carla Beck’s team is calling out Scott Moe for failing to support Saskatchewan’s forestry sector — and the communities and workers relying on it — in the wake of a major curtailment at sawmill in Big River, announced Thursday.

“Scott Moe takes the day off while hardworking Saskatchewan people get laid off,” said Jordan McPhail, Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs & Forestry.

“He promised a forestry boom. Instead, Northern Saskatchewan got a forestry decline.”

On Thursday, Carrier Forest Products announced it curtail production at its Big River sawmill beginning in October 2026 indefinitely. It’s expected the decision will negatively impact 117 workers.

McPhail said the announcement was just the latest in a long series of Sask. Party failures to support workers across the province and specifically in the forestry industry. Since 2020, Scott Moe and the Sask. Party have repeatedly promised to double Saskatchewan's forestry sector. Instead, forestry and logging GDP has fallen by roughly 32 per cent since 2018, the year Moe took over as Premier and dropped another 12.8 per cent in 2025 alone.

“More Sask. Party broken promises and ultimately, it’s workers that pay the price,” McPhail said.

“I have to ask in all of this who is holding this Premier accountable? Minister Eric Schmalz has a seat at the Cabinet table — is he just going to sit there and do nothing as 117 of his constituents — good, hardworking Saskatchewan people — are handed pink slips?”

Prince Albert and Northern Saskatchewan collectively have lost the most jobs this year in the province this year — in all, 6,900 positions have disappeared and unemployment has climbed to 6.1 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent a year ago.

Nathin Peters of R. Peters Jr, Contracting Ltd, said that this curtailment sends a concerning message about the Sask. Party's vision of the forestry industry.

"I don't have much to say directly with the curtailment at Carrier Forest Products, but it does make me question the narrative of what forestry means to the government.

"If a large company like that finds it unsustainable, where does that put a smaller operation like ours?"

“From refusing to stand up for the forest sector in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs, to allowing disease, insects and wildfires to devastate forests and destroy investment opportunities, it is clear this government is long past it’s best before date,” McPhail said. “Saskatchewan people don’t have to settle for this absentee leadership — it’s time for change.”

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