Round 1 in Toronto

Well, Round 1 is over and Round 2 is underway. And I'm still in Toronto! Which is to be expected, and a good thing really. Except that I'm really starting to miss the euphoria and Habs fever of Montreal. Not to mention their weather, which has been considerably more sunny than Toronto ever since that snowstorm period in early April.

As for the job itself, I definitely settled into it. It's really cool to learn all about the different technologies, from the audio mixer to video switcher, EVS machines and a bunch of other stuff like tape archiving, etc. I think my internship at Sportsnet last summer definitely better prepared me for this job, because I at least had some idea of how a studio show and production studio works. Those rows of big yellow tapes in Sports Archives on the second basement didn't scare me!

In a way, I find studio production to be much more hectic in the control room than in a truck. I guess the truck is hectic in a different way. Even though Control Room 42 basically only produces the studio segments and related VTR items, when they're on, it's crazy. And I love it.

My only problem is trying to sleep after a show... All I hear is "roll Silver, cut Silver, mix to Blue" etc etc.

I've learned so much just from observing and listening, and I'm glad that the Hockey Night in Canada family is so open and friendly. Not that I was expecting anything different, but it's nice to be able to ask just about any production related question and get a real answer. You just have to know when to ask and when to just be silent.

Anyway, instead of boring you with more TV observations, I thought I'd try something different. Here's a summary of my time in Toronto from the moment I got to the airport in Montreal until the beginning of Round 2, through facebook.

Enjoy!

PS: The (m) is for mobile update. And it's in reverse time order, by date.

April 5

Naila is in transit. (m) 12:02pm

Naila is in Toronto, ready for her big debut! (m)3:49pm

April 6

Naila thought watching broadcast schedule making was awesome. So hectic. So worth it. (m) 11:02pm

Naila really enjoys the fact that if you miss the subway in Toronto it only takes 2 mins for the next one to show up. Even on weekends. (m)5:33pm

Naila loves that country is the music of choice at her homestay. 11:26am

Naila thoroughly enjoyed work today. 1:57am

April 7

Naila actually got home before 1 am! Impressive! (m) 11:13pm

Naila votes P.J. Stock for superstar of the day!That's 4 straight hours of radio,then 20 mins of TV. 6:32pm

Naila will try to read Total Stanley Cup today. 9:17am

Naila hopes the Habs give her a Bday present for Game 1. 12:34am

April 8

Naila might be getting a cold. Oh well. Even the best fall down sometimes. 9:20pm

Naila feels like today was longer than any other day, but in fact, it was 2h shorter! (m) 8:12pm

Naila can't wait for early meal break! (m) 2:23pm

Naila loves College station because of its beautiful hockey-related murals. (m) 10:46am

Naila couldn't sleep past 7:45. Silly brain. 8:37am

April 9

Naila keeps forgetting she can't get out from Front Street at this time! (m) 11:42pm

Naila just flashed back to last summer... another example of the love-hate relationship between trams and bikes. (m) 2:06pm

Naila just realized that people in Toronto who are not hockey fans think HNIC goes off the air onge the Leafs' season is over. (m) 11:57am

Naila totally is sick. But have no fear! Advil Cold & Sinus is here! 9:50am

April 10

Naila has had the best birthday ever and received an abundance of love and gifts, including the Habs' victory and a promise of a ticket to Vancouver from my dad! 10:36pm

Naila is excited for Ryan's graduation ceremony!(m)12:47pm

Naila has landed in her hometown. (m)10:00am

Naila couldn't sleep, with Ron and Don and Control Room 42 in her ear all night! (m) 7:12am

Naila is kinda impressed that facebook wished her a happy birthday! 12:28am

April 11

Naila has a papercut in the middle of her right index finger. What inconvenient placement! (m) 1:29pm

Naila is so very happy :).

9:27am

April 12

Naila can't believe how loud the Bell Centre is... and that's just on TV! (m) 8:28pm

Naila had a wonderful 2 days in Montreal and will definitely miss Habs fever! (m)10:44am

Naila is flying! (m) 8:09am

Naila feels totally blessed. 12:54am

April 13

Naila loves all these End of Year pics.5:29pm

Naila wonders how she got a bruise in the middle of her right cheek bum. (m) 2:24pm

Naila was looking at Olympic dates and just realized she didn't have to worry about starting school! (m) 11:54am

Naila loves. 10:29am

Naila is glad her prediction for tonight turned out to be wrong. 1:05am

April 14

Naila realizes how much she really does miss playing hockey after watching it day in and day out. 8:38pm

Naila loves her uncanny ability to cut or bruise herself on just about anything. (m) 1:12pm

Naila is glad it isn't as cold as it was supposed to be today. 11:05am

Naila apologizes. 1:02am

Naila was impressed by stellar performances by both early game goalies tonight. Not so much in Calgary. 12:28am

April 15

Naila is so happy for her boys!! (m) 10:36pm

Naila is having hockey related heart attacks! (m) 8:24pm

Naila just saw 2 random guys walking down King street in Habs jerseys. Oh yeah! (m) 3:06pm

Naila is sorta comforted at the fact that the subway fails in Toronto too... but why did it have to happen to me? (m)12:13pm

Naila will rock you. 10:00am

April 16

Naila wrote half her paper in shorthand on the subway ride in to work this morning. 2:23pm

Naila just saw a butterfly crossing the street!(m) 11:34am

Naila is ready for flip flops. 10:17am

Naila enjoys the luxuries in life... like having lunch with Lindsay! 12:09am

April 17

Naila thought that was pretty depressing. (m) 9:47pm

Naila has heart palpitations again! (m) 7:50pm

Naila has decided today is a HUG day. Any and all hugs will be accepted. 10:17am

Naila had fun learning a bunch of new things tonight. (m) 12:24am

April 18

Naila thinks these seagulls or wtv they're called sound like whining babies. Also, yey! sun! 2:24pm

Naila always forgets how different it feels to walk in flip-flop like sandals.11:56am

Naila is excited to hang out with Ryan tonight!!! :D. 10:38am

Naila is sad that her aunt who she hasn't seen in 11 years is in Montreal, and she's not :(. (m) 12:25am

April 19

Naila brought the flowers Ryan got her to the craft room. Now it smells exotic in there. 3:03pm

Naila had a blast hanging out with Ryan and work friends last night. 9:42am

April 20

Naila has decided she's pretty decent looking. (m) 11:20pm

Naila had amazing cake at work today. 7:02pm

Naila really has to get cracking on this act of citizenship assignment. 10:31am

Naila has too much pent-up frustration (not Habs related), but she wishes she'd punched something softer than an elevator mirror. 12:29am

April 21

Naila still can't stop smiling!! 11:29pm

Naila just can't believe it!! GO HABS GO!! (m) 10:22pm

Naila just saw Peter Mansbridge walking around level 4 of the CBC building. (m) 4:23pm

Naila thinks her paper is almost done. 2:42pm

Naila will have to finish this thing at work today. 11:01am

Naila needs to finish this essay. 1:05am

April 22

Naila is hanging out. 7:56pm

Naila saw a girl in a Habs smile Tshirt sitting on a bench in downtown Toronto... And then a guy in a Habs jersey having lunch a few steps away. (m) 2:09pm

Naila almost just walked in to a CTV shot. Can't escape the media forever!! 12:40pm

Naila can't believe she's actually done school. 11:17am

April 23

Naila has new clothes! 10:39pm

Naila would move to Toronto for Red Lobster. (m)8:01pm

Naila can't believe she's actually eating at Red Lobster for the first time since she was like 8. Omg awesome! (m)6:58pm

Naila has Hockey Night music stuck in her head! (m)5:05pm

Naila is shopping on her day off! (m) 3:46pm

Naila wanted to go out but the rain is putting a damper on things... 2:42pm

Naila should be sleeping. 4:31am

Naila has a day off!! 2:59am

And there you have it... the ups and downs of life in live TV...

It's that time of the year again...

... Birthday time, that is!

Sure, my birthday is still 14 days away, but that hasn't prevented people from asking me what I want.

Now, usually, I come up with a list for holidays and my birthday, but in recent years, I've found that I want less stuff. Either that, or the things that I actually want are very expensive. Most of the time, I'd like to receive immaterial presents like happiness or stability. Of course, you can't buy happiness - although I do truly believe that having a decent amount of money definitely helps... after all, how can you be happy if you can't feed yourself? - so my standard list is basically an Amazon wish list spin-off.

This year, once again, I'm stuck with the same problem. Except this time, I have a solution.

The one item on my birthday list this year is a 4x8 Centennial Plaza brick. Yes, a $200 brick.

Ever since I heard these were available, I've wanted one. I know it's not the best use of money, but it's an emotional decision. (Yes, I also understand that it's a brilliant marketing plan to make fans/taxpayers pay for the beautification of the "plaza" in front of the Lucien-L'allier train station).

But anyway. Here's the plan. If 10 of my friends want to get me $20 gifts... that would pay for the brick. I'm not a 100% sure, but I think I just might have 10 friends who would like to get me something for my birthday. Then again, I might only have 2 friends who think I'm gift worthy, and then they'd each have to spend $100 for this plan to work. Hmmmm...

I'm not vain; I know a lot of people can't afford gifts even if they'd like to give them. So even if the few gifts I do get end up paying for a portion of the brick, I'd be the happiest girl in the world! It's not that I can't afford one... I just think it would be so much more significant if my friends gave me this brick because it would have a double meaning and therefore be extremely symbolic.

So if you feel like participating in this historic gift idea... simply call (514) 925-5656 ext 8 and get me a Centennial Plaza Brick gift certificate!

PS: Thank you.

In case you were wondering...

I count stairs. Compulsively, perhaps. Subconsciously, most likely.

Most of the time, I start counting without even knowing it, only noticing once I've reached an abnormally large number or thought of something else. This is mostly because I get bored very easily. So I count steps and stairs. Though most often just stairs.

I also come up with nifty blog posts while I walk, although sadly, they never turn out that great when I finally sit down and type them up.

But back to the stairs.

Today, I worked the Habs vs. Bruins game at the Bell Center. I had a ridiculously awesome time. Ridiculous because for once, I actually fulfilled my job title. I ran around a lot! But it was all in good fun, and I stepped up and got things done, not only on time, but usually well. At least, that's what I've gathered from the feedback I received.

But that's besides the point.

The point is, I took the metro to get to work, and therefore got off at the Lucien-L'allier station. Did you know that, ironically, there are 24 steps leading up from the metro platform up to the exit where the security guard watches as you feed the machine?

24 steps for 24 Stanley Cups.

Hopefully, that symbolism won't be true after the Montreal Canadiens' Centennial celebrations.

I don't tend to count escalator steps, because, well, the number varies based on speed of ascension or descent, and because it just doesn't count.

However, I do know that there are 3 x 10 steps going from the metro station to the super secret super stinky tunnel to the Lucien-L'allier train station, and therefore, into the Bell Centre.

Usually, I cut through the train station and go down the stairs at the other end of the station, heading down to St-Antoine Street and the media entrance.

There number of stairs in that set has an average of 20.66666666666 (to infinity and beyond!), with the sequencing as follows (from station to street): 21, 19, 22. One has to wonder why they didn't make them all 20 or 21. I'm sure it would have worked out.

So to recap, that's a total of 116 steps and 3 escalators for me to get from the metro platform to the media entrance.

Not that I'm complaining... It's good exercise!

The story behind a Canadian Cyclist

Some months ago, I was asked to do a one-on-one interview with reporter Alain Gravel, host of Radio Canada's investigative reporting programme "Enquête". Gravel, as you may recall, is the reporter who broke the story of Quebec's biggest doping scandal. After many months of pushing, cyclist Geneviève Jeanson admitted to Gravel and his team that she had in fact taken drugs and had been doing so from a very young age.

The interview was published in Media Magazine, the publication put out by the Canadian Association of Journalists. Ironically, Gravel was, at the time of the interview, the president of the Fédération Professionelle des Journalistes du Québec.

This interview was particularly tough to write up, not because of the translation work required, but because of the sheer amount of content that the interview provided. Originally, I had planned on a 15 to 30 minute interview - MAX. Instead, I had just over an hour of tape to listen and sort through. Plus, the story itself was very complex, as there was a lot of back and forth before Gravel and his team were able to get a confession out of Jeanson. In fact, the story was so complicated that even Gravel had to think hard about the timing and sequence of the events leading up to his scoop. Not to mention that the story and the pursuit of the story were both very interesting and full of juicy details.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the article and with the editing job - with one exception. Near the end of the second page, the text mentions that "a Canadian cyclist had written about a marriage certificate" when it should instead say "Canadian Cyclist had written about a marriage certificate", meaning the industry magazine Canadian Cyclist.

Without further ado, here I am, on page 18!

Stay tuned for more goodies...

An Orgasm of News

It has been a fair amount of time since I last posted, hence the title of this blog. Also, I just want the random search terms to lead here. Because it's funny.

(*points and laughs at googlers looking for porn*)

A lot has changed since late February. For one, I don't look the same. No, I did not have major plastic surgery and I was thankfully not involved in any vehicular accidents. But I did cut my hair. Short.

How short you ask? Why, as short as I can ever fathom having my hair.

Why did you cut it? And why so short? Well, my friend, I cut it not only because it was so long that it was starting to get annoying - your hair choking you in your sleep? so not cool - but also because it was heavy. So heavy, in fact, that I lost .8 pounds based on a very unscientific poll which required me to weight myself in the same clothes before and after the cut, with no food or liquid intake in between.

But most importantly, I cut my hair because that was the plan all along. In fact, the last time I wrote a post, I was already planning my cut. Indeed, it would already have reached its new length had I not been so incredibly insanely busy during Reading Week/Spring Break.

For the second time in my life, I donated my hair to make wigs for children with cancer. It's an honourable mission, in my opinion. Why cut your hair when if you were to wait a couple more months, it would be long enough to give? Also, it's not like you can do much with it once it's gone.

Last time, I cut my hair in the States because it had remnants of streaks in it and the Canadian organizations wouldn't take it. Also, I got a free cut out of it ;) I sent that ponytail to Locks of Love.

This time, three years later, my hair was in pristine condition and dye-free, so I gave it to one of the many hair donation programs in Canada, specifically Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. It's based out of Ontario, but much more people friendly than the Quebec organization, which provided no instructions, simply an address.

My new haircut seems to have brought on winds of change. Changing my look seems to have changed my luck. After a period where everything I applied for went to someone else - without even a chance to prove myself in an interview - I had a nice chat with Sherali Najak, executive producer of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

And I'm headed to Toronto for the month of April to work as a production runner for Rounds 1 and 2 of the playoffs, helping with everything that happens in Studio 42, but also anything else that's show related. And so it seems my career does lie in sports, at least for the time being.

I am totally absolutely completely ecstatic about this opportunity. It is not only a great way to learn the ropes, but it also means I get to "cotoyer" to use a French word, the people who make the show look and feel so polished and authentic. It's truly an amazing chance to prove my worth, and maybe even get to explore other CBC productions.

And while I am extremely grateful for this wonderful promotion, I'm also a bit sad, because I won't get to feel the Bell Centre shake as 23,173 fans cheer for the Habs. It means that all this excitement that I've amassed over working the playoffs in Montreal is now diverted to working on the show. Which is awesome - but I know I'm going to miss my Habs.

The good news is, the Habs might have the stuff to go all the way, and since HNIC usually travels after the first two rounds, or at least, by the finals... I may yet have a chance to have my socks rocked off by the best fans in the NHL.

Speaking of sports... The 5th annual edition of the Rogers Sportsnet Sports Journalism Workshop, presented in conjunction with Concordia University's Journalism and Communication Departments, was an absolutely success, despite the crazy snow storm that was predicted. And yes, the snow did fall. And yes, I am so over winter. Especially since my "walking" boots broke 2 weeks before that impending storm of doom. We had a fairly decent student turnout... almost more than any of the other years I've been there - which is 3 total. Most of those don't even go to Concordia!!! (yet).

The bad news is... it took me 1.5 hours to get home instead of the 20 minutes no traffic time I usually clock. Definitely a long day.

And speaking of journalism... Tomorrow is our live show, aptly entitled One Night [News]Stand. As the script says, it's your chance to get a little more intimate with our work. We're expecting a live audience of at least 50 people, we have 8 wonderful guests that are sure to entertain you... And if that doesn't work, well... it will, because one of them is comic Paul Baluyot, and the other is Montreal rapper Rugged Intellect. Other guests include Jonnie Penn and David Lingwood from The Buried Life. We also have the crew from HabsCast, the deputy executive director from the charity In Their Shoes, and Dr. Laurie Betito, sex therapist and host of CJAD's PASSION.

As you can see, it's a full lineup, and I had a blast lining up the segments so they would flow into a beautiful show. And tomorrow, I get to floor direct/manage the show, which is sure to be an exciting and most likely hectic experience. Hopefully, I'll post about it sooner rather than later, so you're not hanging in suspense.

Last but not least, I just want to underline how stressed I am. All week, I've had a Post It full of stuff "To Do". In fact, as of Tuesday, I've had 2 or 3 different "To Do" lists.
Thankfully, I think I'll be able to manage with just one after Friday.

Most importantly, apart from the planning for the End of Year Bash, getting grad gifts for my fellow graduating students, ensuring that all the Historic Cities Program exhibition goes well, helping organize the first ever joint Journalism Students Association and Concordia University Alumni Association's Journalism Chapter event, aka Stories from the Front and doing all my homework, all I've got to worry about is finding a place to stay in Toronto that's relatively cheap and meet with my must haves: Internet, no smoking and no pets.

I'll let you know how all of that goes...

On trade deadline 2008

I am actually not that disapointed. I never believed in this Hossa thing, but I've got to admit that in the last couple of days, the rumours and the hype got to me.

But I urge you (and everyone else) to find the clip where Gainey says he's looking for an "impact player". If you've seen the whole segment, you know that answer was pulled out of him. At first, a journalist asked him if he intended to make any moves. He evaded the question. A second journalist pushed, and asked him if, hypothetically, he was going to make a move, what sort of move it would be. And that's when the "impact player" quote was born.

I don't think Gainey ever intended to shop for an "impact player", as in, it wasn't his MUST MAKE move. It was something he was open to. It was not make or break, and I'm glad.

Marian Hossa would never have signed in Montreal, and we would have given up way too much for him. I'm not ready to let go of the youth and young vets that this team has built. Also, I think Pittsburgh totally got the raw end of the deal. In my eyes, Atlanta is the definite winner in this transaction, picking up a trio of young talents who will develop into impact players.

And yes, Montreal is now stuck with two goalies who are rookies and have no NHL post-season experience. But these are both guys who thrive under pressure. They'll work with each other, pushing each other to the brink. That's the kind of pressure Carey Price needs, not this "it's all your fault" pressure we've been giving him.

I think it could definitely be beneficial for this tandem to be so young, and it also means the team is going to rally around them because they won't necessarily trust that they can let the pucks get all the way to the net every time. And Halak is pretty impressive. He's been rocking the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL and forcing them to keep competing for a playoffs spot. Who's to say he won't do the same here?

I also think that by keeping the core we have now, these guys are going to come together. They know there's no option, and that the only changes will be caused by call ups. Like Mikhail Grabovski, whom I hope will not be spending the majority of his time on the press gallery.

And while we will probably miss Huet in the room, at least we won't have to worry about him letting in that stinker. And this is good news. It's like if Saku Koivu were to never take offensive zone penalties again! We've got something to cheer about!

As for the 'Dogs, they've got Yann Danis and other solid goaltending prospects to pick up the slack, and so I'm not at all concerned about their playoff position... As long as everyone who is still down there keeps scoring now that Grabs is likely to finish the season in Montreal.

Meanwhile, the Habs have a game to play tonight. The good news is, no Hossa or Pascal Dupuis and no Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito or that elusive first round draft pick to worry about!

Paper trail...

In honour of the NHL trade deadline, it's time to think of something else. In this case, paper.
This year, I once again was an intern for The Reporter, Pulp and Paper Canada's daily publication during PaperWeek International and EXFOR 2008.
It took place in early February, so while I'm a bit slow on the posting, I figured today was a symbolic day for looking back at past success and forward at new horizons.

Here are a couple of texts I wrote during that week.

Irving impresses with SC-A upgrade

In 2006, Irving Paper Ltd. decided to convert its PM1 to an SC-A grade machine, with plans to upgrade to SC-A+. The PM1, which was built in 1964, was in need of an upgrade, especially in the press and calendering areas.

“This was a strategic decision by the company to move away from newsprint and go to value add grades, so that was probably the biggest asset,” said PM1 Superintendant Terry Tomney.

One of the most interesting aspects of this presentation, which was part of Metso’s annual conference, was the time lapse photography of the whole process. The upgrade took 65 days to complete, and the bird’s-eye view of the calendering and dryer hood deconstruction and reconstruction was captured every 20 minutes, providing a remarkable amount of material for an impressive slideshow.

Most inspiringly, the process was ongoing as workers were on the floor 24 hours a day and the project was completed with no downtime.

At first, Irving experienced some quality issues such as dry end breaks, VIB Digital Block Corrosion, and wrinkling due to air entrapment, but Metso and Irving cooperated in finding the solutions to these problems, often by using new technologies such as the OptiReel Plus.

However, several of Irving’s concerns turned out to be non-issues.

“One thing we were really concerned about,” said Tomney, “is that it’s approximately 80 meters that the sheet runs, so there’s a lot of opportunities for issues. But to our great surprise, thanks to the advance work we had done with Metso, we had no issues with threading.”

Since Irving has only two paper machines, it was important for the company to minimize downtime. One of the keys to accomplishing this was quicker troubleshooting of E&I issues, as software made it possible to resolve issues in ten to fifteen minutes rather than four to five hours.

“We are taking a quantum step in development for ourselves and we’re entering an area that we didn’t know so much about,” Tomney said. “[Metso] was very valuable to us, so much so that we extended our co-operation agreement.”

Still, while early 2007 results showed a great increase in the quality of the paper produced by Irving’s reconstructed SC-A/SC-A+ machine, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

-30-

Industry analyst forecasts transition year

By Naila Jinnah

Tuesday’s plenary session provided much food for thought as TD Newcrest’s Paper and Forest Products Equity Analyst Sean Steuart, CFA, presented his forecast for the year to come.

His presentation, appropriately entitled “Outlook: An Industry in Transition”, was a perfect partner to PaperWeek International’s theme for 2008, “A Bridge to the Future”.

Steuart explained that the pulp and paper industry in the United States and in Canada has a poor reputation in the investment community, partially because of its failure to meet performance expectations in the past few years but also because of the way brokers emphasize the pros but neglect to stress the cons of investing in the sector.

Since 1999, capital has been down 6%, with a more pronounced trend since the Canadian dollar started rising. Therefore, the industry is losing relevance in the investment community, as Canadian, US and European investments in the sector account for less than 1% of the equity market.

“I think there’s a credibility issue both on the analyst side and the industry side,” said Steuart. “We definitely get the sense that investors want to see how this unfolds in the next couple of years.”

In 2008, only five Canadian P&FP companies were listed in the S&P/TSX Composite Index, accounting for $6.0 million Canadian in market capital. That’s a huge drop from 1995, when 23 companies combined for $14.8 million in market capital. One major factor is the mergers and buyouts of the past few years, as traditionally Canadian companies like Abitibi and Domtar became listed as US companies.

Steuart looked back at the downturn of the past year and provided short, mid and long term trends, focusing primarily on the Canadian market.

“We estimate that the weighted average cost of capital for Canadian companies is 13%,” said Steuart of the current situation. “I wouldn’t say that USA and Europe companies have been better, but they’re certainly better than Canada. Companies have been withholding investments and share prices have gone down as a result.”

Steuart also addressed the recession fears in the US, claiming that although a broad recession might not take place, but that various commodities in this sector are already in recession.

Wood products were hit especially hard in 2007 and over the past five years, mitigated by actual demand improvement but also because of factors like the US housing crisis. New technologies will also play a role in the long term.

“A couple of products are in structural demand decline for North America,” said Steuart, “especially newsprint and uncoated freesheet. This reflects the trend in the way people are accessing information, especially with new technologies.”

Most wood product companies have a negative cashflow, especially in Canada, and further consolidation is inevitable, according to Steuart.

“Prices have fallen so much because companies with good balance sheets have decided to push their assets too hard and burn cash instead of sitting back and balancing,” said Steuart.

As for market pulp, prices are still rising across most grades and regions. The market remains tight, especially for hardwood, but momentum is decreasing due to the short term fibre scarcity caused by issues like weather, closures, and union disputes. In the long term, there will be a steady demand growth with closings of high demand price mills as new greenfield pulp mills open in the Southern Hemisphere. China remains a big driver, as shipments to that country account for 20% of the 19 major companies’ exports.

Prices for newsprint, primarily a Canadian commodity, have started increasing.

“A number of the smaller companies were waiting for Abitibi to finish their merger and proceed with expected closures. And they sort of sat at on the sidelines and waited, and prices went down,” explained Steuart.

For Steuart, it’s hard to believe prices went down so much, since the effect of inflation in the last 8 years in Canada coupled with the Canadian dollar appreciation made it double the US values.

“It’s been a very tough few years, but I think we’ve turned the corner,” said Steuart. “Part of the reasons we’re positive is that the big publishers in the States appear to be aboard and understanding our struggles.”

All Canadian lumber producers except for Interfor are losing operating cash before taxes and adjustments.

“We’re going to see the worst data in Q4 that we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be a tough quarter,” Steuart warned.

-30-

I also have an article going into the March issue of Pulp and Paper Canada, which is always interesting, and I should be writing an article on one of my pet subjects as of late, so...

Stay tuned!