When Miramichiers gather for a rally this weekend it won't be for one of the local sports teams.
Dawn MacDonald is one of the rally organizers who hopes public support will help get the Weyerhaeuser oriented strand board mill open under a new owner.
"Hopefully we'll have a real good crowd of people," she said.
MacDonald has been trying to help bring Arbec Forest Products in to take over the mill since she first heard the company was interested.
Last week many Miramichi residents opened their mailboxes to find a leaflet from MacDonald urging them to contact Premier Shawn Graham, local MLAs John Foran and Bill Fraser, Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne and Natural Resources Minister Wally Stiles.
MacDonald said she sent out about 10,000 of the leaflets last Thursday and Friday to help build support for her cause.
"A lot of people are saying they're glad somebody's doing something on this issue."
This week is crucial for letting the government know people want the mill re- opened and it's important to show public interest in the deal, she said.
"We are very serious here in the Miramichi area. We want these jobs back."
Arbec vice-president of finance and administration Serge Mercier said company representatives are coming to New Brunswick this week to meet with provincial officials, but he wouldn't give more information about when it will be.
"We don't want to be too specific with our meeting with Business New Brunswick."
But even though he wouldn't go into detail about the meeting, Mercier did say Arbec's plan has been the same from the beginning.
"We need to have enough secured wood allocation."
MacDonald said she has heard concerns from Miramichi residents who worry Arbec will ship wood from any potential allocation out of province, but she spoke with Mercier who told her it would stay in the Miramichi.
"He assured me on the phone their intention is to come here and to operate this mill and produce OSB as the mill did before and that's it."
Mercier confirmed Quebec-based Arbec does not plan on using wood from the allocation outside the Miramichi.
"The request for wood is only for Miramichi. No other agenda."
A Crown wood allocation has been the issue holding up any deal between Arbec and Weyerhaeuser, with the province saying they would not commit to an allocation without business and industrial plans from Arbec.
Arbec has said they provided Business New Brunswick with a tentative business plan, but were told they would not receive the allocation they needed to run the mill.
Business New Brunswick representative Deborah Knobs said the company does need to submit the business and industrial plans and it will be one of the topics discussed at this week's meeting.
"They're hoping to get some clarity out of this meeting about what specifically is possible with the Weyerhaeuser mill."
The fact both sides are meeting and talking about the issue is encouraging, she said.
"The intent is to get permanent sustainable jobs down there if at all possible."
MacDonald said she hopes to see community support for the sale with a big group attending Saturday's rally.
"I think the bigger the group the more support we have, the more effective it's going to be for the government to see."
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