It was another week of hotels and airplane food for many of the principals involved in Vale's proposed closing of the Thompson smelter and refinery by 2015, though at this point it appears there is still little in the way of formal negotiations.
On Dec. 7, Tito Martins, chief executive officer of Vale to Canada, led a four-person Vale corporate delegation to Thompson where they met with key community stakeholders.
This included a meeting with Martins, his corporate team (composed of vice-president of corporate affairs Cory McPhee, executive vice-president of legal and corporate affairs Mark Travers, and vice-president of production services and support John Pollesel), local Vale management in the form of Lovro Paulic, Stu Waring, and Rob Platford, Mayor Tim Johnston, members of city council, and representatives of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6166, the School District of Mystery Lake, and Thompson Unlimited.
According to Johnston, the purpose of that meeting was to deliver the same presentation that he and USW President Murray Nychyporuk, along with Thompson MLA Steve Ashton and provincial Innovation, Energy, and Mining minister Dave Chomiak, saw when they visited Vale's corporate offices in Toronto on Nov. 24.
"It talked about the decision that was made," said Johnston. "We need to understand why the decision was made and for what reason. It was good to see the presentations, so we can gather the information." Johnston also noted that he was pleased to see Martins honour the commitment he had made upon announcing the smelter and refinery closure to come to Thompson and deliver that presentation. The Vale group's other stops in Thompson included a meeting with workers in the refinery.
Six days later, it was off to Ottawa for Johnston, Ashton, Nychyporuk, and Gary Ceppetelli, the city's director of planning and community development. Meeting up with Churchill MP Niki Ashton, who was already in Ottawa, the group met with federal officials in an attempt to get the federal government to join with the existing stakeholders. Meetings were held with the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP.
"We are off to Ottawa on Monday to meet with the federal government," said Steve Ashton in advance of the trip. "The city and the Steelworkers will be with us. Our message is clear. We need the federal government to work with us to save our Thompson and Manitoba jobs." After the day was over, Ashton took to Facebook to say that Vic Toews, the Conservatives' senior minister for Manitoba, agreed to have federal officials be part of the discussions on saving jobs in Thompson. Ashton singled out the efforts of Johnston and Nychyporuk for praise.
Thompson was also front and centre in question period on Dec. 13, with federal NDP leader Jack Layton asking Industry Minister Tony Clement about the issue. "When Vale took over Canadian icon Inco, it was a takeover with conditions," he began. "Those conditions were designed to protect Canadians and workers in their communities. According to reports today, Vale broke its deal with the government, and broke its word to communities and all Canadians. The minister's response: silence. This government cannot be counted on to protect Canadians from predatory foreign investment. Why did the minister allow Vale to break its conditions, to break its word, to violate its own signature and to break the rules?"
"The honourable member gets on his soapbox too far," replied Clement. "I don't know what the honourable member is talking about. They did not break any of their preconditions or any of their undertakings, so the report he relies on and his excellent research for question period is flat-out wrong."
