Trump tariffs idle century-old paper mill in Canada's Temiscaming, residents fear a ghost town

Crossing the Ottawa River into Temiscaming, Quebec, the paper mill fills much of the horizon. The town itself was built more than a century ago around the mill and the region's forests of pine, birch, spruce and fir. Now its main employer and economic anchor sits idle, after trade talks between Canada and the US broke down and President Donald Trump imposed more tariffs on the country.

Most of the mill's 360 employees are out of work, kept afloat for the moment with partial pay from government tariff relief.

Worker Nadine Suley says she is not 'a city girl' and was heading out moose hunting to take advantage of the short season, like much of the town, quipping they will all need the free meat this year. 'It's not just a job. It's our home,' Suley says, adding that the US tariffs feel like 'a personal attack'.

In early October, the mill's American owner RYAM went ahead with an 'economic shutdown' of the mill for 'an indefinite period'.

Property values in Temiscaming fell almost overnight, and 'For Sale' signs dot the yards of the modest middle-class homes that make up most of the town. There are fears that essential service people, from grocery store clerks to the doctors at the small local hospital, could also be on their way out.

'If the mill goes down, it'll turn into a ghost town,' says Ronnie Raymond, who like many in the town comes from a family of mill workers. 'There'll be nothing, nothing left. There's no work for anybody, really. It's scary.'

At a high level, Canada's economy has weathered the trade war with the US, its largest customer: the national unemployment rate has remained largely steady at around 6.5% since Trump's tariffs were first implemented, coupled with tepid but consistent economic growth.

But a closer look shows pockets of deep pain in industries directly hit by US tariffs of up to 50%, like steel, aluminium and automobiles and, in Temiscaming's case, lumber, pulp and paper, raising questions about whether the Carney government is doing enough to help those struggling while a trade deal remains elusive.

Stephane Lefebvre, an employee and union leader whose father and grandfather also worked at the mill, says: 'If there was 10% of job loss in Toronto or Montreal or Quebec City or Vancouver, it'd be all over the news, and it'd be a lot of pressure on the governments to do something.' He says the pain could ripple across the regional forestry industry, including sawmills and trucking, and one local contractor has already had to lay off 13 people.

The last time the town faced a threat this existential was in 1973, when the mill's then-American owner threatened to shut it down, prompting local workers and managers to come together and purchase it. They turned it into Tembec, a Quebec-owned international company with branches across North America and France.

The workers now hope to do it again, mobilising a coalition of locals who want to buy the plant back from RYAM, which purchased it in 2017. 'We're hoping that lightning will hit twice,' Lefebvre says inside the town's union hall, but he contends they cannot do so without significant help from Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Quebec government, in tariff relief or financial support. Suley notes Carney has emphasised 'buy local' and supporting Canadian workers since he was elected, and backing the town's bid would fulfil that pledge. In an email to the BBC, RYAM said it would not comment on a potential sale or any prospective buyers.

Mayor Alain Gauthier doesn't blame RYAM for its decision. He calls US tariffs 'a bomb to shut down our manufacturing in Canada'. He wants Ottawa to retaliate with its own duties on board products coming into Canada from the US, currently tariff-free, and says that while politicians have said Canada is in an economic war with the US, 'in reality we see absolutely no evidence of war measures being taken' — 'We feel we got into a war with kid's water guns to fight back.'

Some, like Lefebvre, feel forestry has taken a back seat in the fight to save other tariffed industries like steel and autos. This month Industry Minister Melanie Joly threatened Stelco, one of Canada's largest steelmakers, with financial penalties or a forced asset sale should it go ahead with planned layoffs of some 500 workers due to steel tariff pressure. Last week Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced nearly C$9bn to help Ontario's steel and auto sector. Sebastien Lemire, the Bloc Quebecois MP for Temiscaming, told the BBC he is 'very concerned and worried' about what he calls inaction from the Carney government to support the town and Quebec's forestry industry more broadly. A spokesperson for Minister Joly said the government has made available $400m to support the forestry sector in rural and remote areas, launched a programme to help tariff-hit businesses access cash flow, and 'is actively working with all parties involved to find a viable solution' on the Temiscaming mill.

In August, after the breakdown in trade talks, the US imposed 50% duties on some C$28bn of Canadian goods, including wood and paper products, and Canada imposed its own 'dollar-for-dollar' counter-tariffs. The Temiscaming mill, which produces paperboard used in frozen-food packaging across North America and in scratch-off lottery tickets, sends roughly 75% of its production to the US. Trump argues these import taxes boost US manufacturing and create jobs.

Frank Dottori, now in his 80s and retired in Temiscaming, was the engineer instrumental in organising the mill's employees in the 1970s to take a 10% cut to collectively purchase it, and went on to become CEO. Their ambitions were seen as foolish at the time, and he recalls being 'politely ejected' by the Quebec premier when he first came knocking for support. Dottori said the new generation of workers need someone just as bold: the local group having that is 'highly unlikely', but 'if they organise themselves' they can get it. He also says US tariffs must be lifted to restore the mill's long-term viability. Many workers are placing hope in the upcoming US midterm elections to pressure Trump, whose approval ratings have fallen among Americans according to polls, to ease tariffs on Canada. Some tariffs on Canadian goods were lifted last week after lobbying from Republican Maine Senator Susan Collins, who is running for re-election in November, but those changes don't apply to Temiscaming's products. Suley and others hope a resolution comes before winter, when sub-zero temperatures could freeze equipment at the idle plant and make reopening even more difficult.