Where the Rubber Hits the Road

This story is certainly an example of how the 'rubber' is 'hitting the road' in my corner of the world. Temiscaming was the town where I initially served as a priest, and it is the neighboring parish to my current assignment in Mattawa, Ontario.  The timber mills in Mattawa fell silent almost two years ago, the largest operation falling to an earlier cost-trimming exercise by Tembec. The impact of the almost complete collapse of the lumber industry in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec has had a devastating impact on many good people. Even the one local laminate flooring plant that is (barely) operating in Rutherglen (where neither wages nor benefits would come close to provincial average in most other occupations) finds themselves undercut by similar product produced in China! I happen also to have been born and raised in an INCO mining town in the Sudbury area, and I stand incredulous at seeing United Steelworkers local 6500 being brought to its knees by the new ...