‘Sad news for the town’: Domtar to idle sawmill in Maniwaki, Que.

The Domtar mill in Maniwaki will idle operations this fall, affecting 80 workers and much of the town north of Ottawa. CTV’s Tyler Fleming reports.

Domtar will idle operations at its sawmill in Maniwaki, Que. this fall after the United States increased softwood lumber duties.

The company confirms to CTV News Ottawa it will “indefinitely” idle the sawmill on Oct. 10.

“Due to challenging market conditions and U.S. duties on softwood lumber now reaching 35.19 per cent, Domtar will indefinitely idle its operations at its Maniwaki Sawmill,” Domtar said in a statement.

In August, the United States decided to more than double countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber, bringing the total duty level for Canadian softwood to 35.19 per cent.

Domtar restarted operations at the Maniwaki sawmill on June 2 after a previous closure that began in December 2024.

Eighty employees have been working at the Maniwaki sawmill since operations restarted in the spring.

The mayor of Maniwaki told CTV News Ottawa the idling of the sawmill is “sad news” for the town and its workers.

“It’s the economy of our town and the region that will be affected,” Francine Fortin told CTV News Ottawa in an email in French.

“The Government of Quebec and the Federal Government must react immediately and make the necessary changes so that Domtar can continue its operations. This must stop jeopardizing the economy of a region.”

According to the Domtar website, the output from the Maniwaki sawmill heads to the North American market and the overseas export market.

Phillippe Foster works at the Maniwaki plant. He’s been working in the purchasing department for four years and says with this second shutdown coming, it’s not a good thing.

“The 35 per cent tax [on Canadian lumber experts to the U.S.] on top of the 15 per cent that was already there, it broke our feet,” says Foster. “We’re a small town. There’s not a lot of work where you can gain a little bit more money than then the minimum wage salary. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I got no decision. They’re [Domtar] going to try to send us to different places until we have good news and we can come back to work. The industry needs some help.”

Maniwaki is located 130 km north of downtown Ottawa.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Tyler Fleming and The Canadian Press