Budget will respond to pending newsprint mill closure: Kennedy

Central Newfoundland, which is grappling with the loss of a key industrial employer, will be among the chief priorities in the next budget, the finance minister says.

Jerome Kennedy, who visited Grand Falls-Windsor on Monday as part of a series of pre-budget consultations, said the pending closure of the AbitibiBowater newsprint mill is commanding government attention.

"We're not just dealing with anonymous workers who are now out of jobs," Kennedy said.

"We're dealing with real people whose families are affected, and it just makes it so much easier when there is that human face."

The AbitibiBowater mill is set to close before the end of March, putting about 750 people from mill workers to loggers to stevedores out of work.

Kennedy admits, though, that government has a formidable task in finding meaningful employment for the area.

"The issue of all the displaced workers, the bridging to retirement, the issues of training and retraining these are issues that we will have to look at, but there are other departments that will play a significant role," said Kennedy, whose meeting with people in the area ran two hours longer than expected.

"What this allows me to do is hear the human side."

Gerald Thompson, who addressed the meeting on behalf of the Exploits Regional Chamber of Commerce, said while there are grounds for the federal government to help displaced workers, the Newfoundland and Labrador government can act on its own.

"I wanted to make the point that if there is a stimulus package from both levels of government, we should get both," Thompson said later. " One should not compromise the other."

A date has not yet been set for the next provincial budget. The last two budgetswere brought down in late April.