The ongoing acquisition of Canadian mills by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) raises issues of grave and mutual concern to your office and our organization.

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Lee Byrd
6 years ago
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1 July 28, 2011 The Honourable Christian Paradis Minister of Industry C.D. Howe Building 235 Queen Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5 Dear Minister Paradis, The ongoing acquisition of Canadian mills by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) raises issues of grave and mutual concern to your office and our organization. Known internationally for its singular contribution to forest destruction, eradicating endangered species and upheaving local communities, APP s recent commitment to achieving a full and complete footprint across this country poses serious economic and environmental threats to Canada and the reputation of Canadian forest products. Please see attached our report entitled How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet, which provides an overview of a full and complete APP footprint in its home country, Indonesia. APP is the pulp and paper division of the Sinar Mas group. As a result of its intransigence in the face of numerous social and environmental conflicts, APP is the subject of a concerted global campaign by Greenpeace and other environmental organizations. Major companies using forest products are abandoning APP in droves Office Depot, Staples, Xerox, Target and others have already cancelled contracts over its links to deforestation and illegal logging. Most recently, Lego severed all links after learning that APP sources from endangered tiger habitat. APP now owns five Canadian pulp mills spanning from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, purchased through a wholly-owned subsidiary the Paper

2 Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation at a cost of over $300 million. Output is estimated at more than 1.5 million tonnes of pulp a year. Virtually all of the output from APP s Canadian pulp mills is redirected to its paper manufacturers in China or Indonesia, which are most often heavily state-subsidised. This undercuts Canadian workers and businesses, and deprives our local economies of high end, value-added manufacturing jobs. As you may be aware, the Sinar Mas group defaulted on US$14 billion in the early 2000s and APP s restructured debts were US$4.2 billion in There exists a well-documented, worrying record of debt accumulation and short-sighted resource extraction. The ultimate owners of APP/Sinar Mas are understood to profit from a cycle of debt entrenchment and financial expropriation. In recent years, the Canadian forest sector, environmental community and others have worked tirelessly to develop and implement lasting solutions for a sustainable and diversified forest economy. Jointly developed proposals under the Great Bear Rainforest and Canadian Boreal Forest Agreements provide a pathway towards environmental sustainability, business competitiveness and economic growth. Given APP s worrying track record, further mill purchases and an increased footprint across Canada will inhibit this shift toward sustainable forestry and a competitive green economy. As the Canadian forest industry moves towards sustainable harvesting, ecosystem based management and credible Forest Stewardship Council certification, it deserves better than seeing APP sweep in to undercut their essential reforms, with a financial war chest amassed through years of rainforest destruction, debt default and external state subsidies. This is not a level playing field. Canadian workers, local communities and our environment all deserve better. I am therefore asking your office, and those of all affected ministers, to conduct a thorough review of APP s purchases and to determine whether it will in fact support or undermine the positive momentum in Canada towards a forest economy capable of providing sustainable jobs and the emerging green economy. Is APP committed to the free, prior and

3 informed consent of Aboriginal Canadians, the bedrock of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Is APP committed to preserving Canada s fragile ecological wealth of for future generations? I also urge you to exercise your powers and responsibilities under the Canadian Investment Act with respect to all APP purchases of Canadian mills, which (inter alia) individually or cumulatively invoke Section 28(1)(c), by holding companies subject to the ultimate control of non- Canadians, as per section 28(2) (a) and (b) of that same Act. Yours truly, Shane Moffatt Forest Campaigner Greenpeace Canada Cc: The Honourable Pat Bell Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Room 138, Parliament Buildings Victoria British Columbia V8V 1X4 The Honourable Bill Blaikie Manitoba Conservation Minister 330 Legislative Building 450 Broadway Winnipeg MB R3C 0V8

4 The Honourable Bill Boyd Minister of Energy and Resources Room 361, Legislative Building 2405 Legislative Drive Regina Saskatchewan S4S0B3 The Honourable Richard Brown Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Fourth Floor, Jones Building 11 Kent Street P.O. Box 2000 Charlottetown Prince Edward Island C1A 7N8 The Honourable Clément Gignac Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade 710, place D'Youville, 6 e étage Québec Québec G1R 4Y4 The Honourable Mel Knight Minister of Sustainable Resource Development Main Floor, Great West Life Building 9920, 108 th Street Edmonton Alberta T5K 2M4 The Honourable Bob McLeod Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Government of the Northwest Territories P.O. Box 1320 Yellowknife Northwest Territories X1A 2L9

5 The Honourable Steve Nordick Minister of Economic Development Yukon Government Administration Building 2071, 2nd Avenue Whitehorse Yukon Y1A 1B2 The Honourable Percy Paris Minister of Economic and Rural Development Suite 600, Centennial Building 1660 Hollis Street P.O. Box 2311 Halifax Nova Scotia B3J 3C8 The Honourable Sandra Pupatello Minister of Economic Development & Trade Hearst Block 8th Flr, 900 Bay St Toronto Ontario M7A2E1 The Honourable Paul Robichaud Minister of Economic Development Centennial Building P. O. Box King Street Fredericton New Brunswick E3B 1G1 The Honourable Susan Sullivan Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development Confederation Building, West Block, Second Floor P.O. Box 8700 St. John's Newfoundland A1B 4J6

6 The Honourable Peter Taptuna Minister of Economic Development and Transportation Government of Nunavut P.O. Box 1000 Station 200 Iqaluit Nunavut X0A 0H0

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Form F5 Change of Registration Information (sections 3.1 and 4.1) Form 33-109F5 Change of Registration Information (sections 3.1 and 4.1) General Instructions Complete and submit this form to notify the relevant regulator(s) or, in Québec, the securities regulatory authority,