Resolute blocking any competition

One company offered $10 million to Resolute Forest Products to buy the Fort Frances mill operation and was rejected by them.
Riversedge was paid $1 for the Fort Frances mill operation, but before signing the final papers on July 9, Resolute paid a numbered company (Riversedge) $2 on July 2 to make sure the mill would never operate again.
Riversedge also received $950,001 from Resolute for other considerations.
Already this company has liens against the properties amounting to several million dollars. There also appears to be a disagreement between town councillors and Riversedge president Justus Veldman about municipal taxes owing.
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga with Resolute is the restrictive covenant agreement between Resolute and a shell company, 2670568 Ontario Limited, owned by Riversedge Redevelopment Corporation.
It clearly spells out that Resolute never wanted another mill to be successful in the Rainy River District.
Because the agreement is registered on title, all future purchasers of any parts of the mill properties will also be bound by the restrictive covenant agreement for a period of 99 years.
Both present mayor June Caul and our previous Roy Avis worked hard to find a buyer for the Fort Frances mill and in every circumstance, the buyer was rejected by Resolute. Oftentimes Resolute blocked those companies’ ability to access wood fibre from the Crossroute Forest.
Those companies had plans to make the Fort Frances mill successful again something that Resolute could not stand. Resolute has made it impossible to accommodate a new operation in Fort Frances.
Under this restrictive covenant agreement, the new owner is bound by the following: They “shall not, as a principal shareholder, partner, investor, subcontractor, consultant, agent etc. use or permit to be used the burdened land (land that is currently occupied by hawg fuel power generator, kraft mill, grinding room and paper mill) or any part thereof to manufacture the following products that would compete with the covenantee (Resolute) or any of its affiliates current business or any part thereof (i) newsprint; (ii)uncoated mechanical paper; (iii) coated mechanical paper; (iv) recycled market pulp; (v) kraft market pulp; and (vi) tissue.”
Reading the agreement, I don’t even know if the hawg fuel power generation plant could operate again or if a sawmill could be built on the property of the Fort Frances mill.
The machinery inside can only be sold for scrap and no buyers may dismantle the machinery and rebuild it elsewhere in the world.
Resolute even wants this new company to have no role in the allocation of wood from the Crossroute Forest if it would impact Resolute.
The wood belongs to the people and the province of Ontario and no corporation should be permitted a monopoly on it.
The province should ask why there is insufficient wood in the Thunder Bay area that at one time supported several paper mills, and immediately, through Order in Council, the province should shut down fibre being taken from the Crossroute Forest for Resolute Forest operations until such time as the restrictive covenant agreement is torn up and removed from the properties in Fort Frances.
The full restrictive covenant agreement was posted to the Fort Frances Times’ website on Monday afternoon.