A Nelson wood manufacturing company will receive a $7.5-million grant from the B.C. government to expand its North Shore facility.
Spearhead Timberworks designs and produces customizable, highly advanced wood structures for residential and commercial use in an international market. The new facility, Spearhead's owners say, will allow it to upgrade and increase production of its own custom glue-laminated timber.
The grant was announced at Spearhead on April 23 by three cabinet ministers: Diana Gibson, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation; Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests; and Brittny Anderson, Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities, and MLA for Kootenay Central.
"As we look to the unjust trade and tariff challenges coming at us from the Trump administration," Gibson said, "we can really see the importance of Canada's manufacturing sector. What we are seeing here today is a company working to create, here in Nelson, bread-winning, community-supporting jobs – quality jobs, high-end jobs."
The new facility, to be built beside its current one, is expected to add about 60 jobs, doubling the company's workforce.
The funding comes from the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund, designed to assist B.C. businesses with value-added production, with a focus on the forest sector.
The program will also contribute to another West Kootenay business. Mercer Celgar, which runs a pulp mill and biorefinery in Castlegar, will receive $1.75 million to modernize its small-log line and install equipment capable of processing smaller-diameter logs and a wider range of low-grade fibre.
In addition, the program is contributing $1.5 million to Westlam Industries of Langley, a wood-product manufacturer that specializes in construction-grade plywood; and $235,000 to Greyback Construction of Penticton, a construction contractor that is diversifying into prefabricated housing construction.
"Over the past 35 years, we've honed our craft in advanced timber fabrication, completing over 450 projects worldwide and building a reputation as trailblazers in our field," said Josh Hall, a partner at Spearhead in a government news release. "This investment from the province will help us showcase B.C.'s remarkable wood resources globally, while creating long-term jobs at home."
It is a priority for the forest ministry to reduce the export of raw logs and to "move us away from just a conversation" to actually creating new manufacturing jobs in the forest sector, Parmar said in an interview.
"There has always been a sense of frustration for most British Columbians that we are not taking advantage of the logs that we have, and we ship them out without getting the most value," he said.
The province announced this funding before the Regional District of Central Kootenay has re-zoned the property from residential to industrial. It is not a given that the rezoning will pass, because some neighbouring residents are against the expansion.
Asked about this after the Spearhead event, a provincial government spokesperson said in an email, "Funding will be provided based on major milestones around building construction and equipment, and the timelines provided by the company include appropriate permitting and zoning for the expansion of existing facilities."
In other words, the funding is contingent on a successful rezoning.
Sangita Sudan, RDCK's general manager of development and community sustainability, told the Nelson Star in an email that the rezoning application process is not complete, and that an additional public hearing has been scheduled for May 1 as a result of new information from Interior Health.
"This funding does not imply any approval or endorsement of the rezoning application, nor does it influence the RDCK board’s decision-making process," she wrote, adding that the RDCK board will evaluate the land-use application on its merits.
"It would be presumptuous and inaccurate to speculate on any particular outcome of the land-use application."
