HALIFAX - HL:Cash could be coming next week for forestry firms owed money by NewPage
THE CANADIAN PRESS
HALIFAX -- A court-appointed monitor overseeing the sale of a shuttered Nova Scotia paper mill says partial payments to forestry contractors for work they haven't been compensated for could begin next week.
Mathew Harris of Ernst & Young says the applications of the 175 contractors who have applied for the Woodsmen's Reserve Fund stemming from the closure of the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill are being reviewed.
He says money from the special fund -- which has an estimated value of between $2.2 million and $2.3 million -- could flow by early next week for a portion of the contractors' claims if they aren't in dispute.
Forestry contractors have said they'll rely on the fund to keep operating while the mill restructures its operations.
The Cape Breton mill, whose operations kept about 1,000 people employed before it shut down two months ago, sought protection from its creditors on Sept. 6.
The process was briefly held up on Wednesday after a lawyer asked the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia for clarity on whether forestry contractors who applied for the fund filled out the required paperwork.
