In Pictures: Touring Downie Timber with BC Liberal Candidate Doug Clovechok
By David F. Rooney
If you want to understand what makes Revelstoke tick you have to understand its people and the engines of its economy — engines like Downie Timber and Selkirk Cedar.
So it’s no surprise BC Liberal Candidate Doug Clovechok spent 90 minutes last Monday, April 22, touring Downie Timer with his wife Susan and Peter Bernacki, the local businessman and contractor who is vice-president of the BC Liberal constituency association.
Guided by Alan Smythe they learned that the mill produced 100 million board feet of cedar, spruce and fir. Downie is the city’s largest single employer and although it was forced to cut its operation by 75 per cent during the softwood lumber war with the US, it bounced back and is now running four full shifts each day.
Downie is also one of the most modern mills in Canada. It spent a lot of money on technology during the softwood lumber war and evidence of that technology is everywhere within the plant.
Clovechok was very impressed with the tour, photos of which you can see below:
Downie Timber’s Alan Smythe (left) tells BC Liberal Candidate Doug Clovechok about the company’s remarkable success rate during a tour of the mill last Monday, April 22. David F. Rooney photoThis was Clovechok’s first visit to the mill, which is Revelstoke’s largest employer and one of the great engines of the city’s economic prosperity. He was accompanied by his wife, Susan, and Peter Bernacki, the local businessman and contractor who is vice-president of the BC Liberal constituency association. David F. Rooney photoBC Liberal candidate Doug Clovechok was surprised by, and interested in, Downie Timber’s use of technology. Computerization and automation have been hallmarks of the company’s development. Even during the softwood lumber war with the United States the company maintained a steady modernization campaign. David F. Rooney photoThe company’s workforce of about 400 men and women, like these guys enjoying a lunch break, work four full shifts. The company offers them a good package of pay and benefits with an average salary of $62,000 a year. David F. Rooney photoPeter Bernacki and Susan Clovechok during the tour. Once upon a time, Bernacki was a worker here at Downie before striking out on his own. David F. Rooney photoThe inside of the plant is a maze of catwalks and corridors that thread by and over machines and conveyor belts. David F. Rooney photoCoveyors carry everything from two-by-fours to chips, splinters and shredded bark.David F. Rooney photoOne of Downie’s workers, Jim Gibbon, explains is job to Doug Clovechok. Despite full employment, it is sometimes difficult to find trained workers — even truck drivers. David F. Rooney photoAlan Smythe escorts his visitors across the yard to Selkirk Cedar where workers create value-added products. David F. Rooney photoThis is the view of the interior of Selkirk Cedar Products. David F. Rooney photoSmythe explains how laminated wood products are created at Selkirk Cedar. David F. Rooney photoDoug Clovechok laughs after getting snoot-fiull of heated and steamy air when the door one of the wood kilns is opened for expression. All in all, Clovechok was greatly impressed by what he saw. If anything, he’d like to get Premier Christy Clark to see one of BC’s economic success stories. David F. Rooney photoDownie and Selkirk products — everything from high-quality wood products to wood chips and shredded bark — are exported to markets in eastern Canada, the United States, Japan, Korea. David F. Rooney photo
