Montreal businessman Joey Saputo has quietly established himself, over the years, as a key player in logging in Quebec. He acquired 50% of Rémabec, “the largest private forestry contractor” in the province. Arbec Bois d’oeuvre — one of dozens of companies that Rémabec oversees — was ordered to pay the largest fine imposed by the Ministry of the Environment in five years.
The La Tuque company Arbec Bois d’oeuvre was found guilty of five violations of the Environment Quality Act, as well as two violations of the Regulation respecting the quality of the atmosphere. This is indicated by a recent conviction by the Quebec ministry.
What do we blame the company for? Three tests carried out in 2017 on the biomass boiler at its La Tuque plant showed that it released 266.8 milligrams per cubic meter at reference conditions (mg/m3R), a level that exceeds the permitted Quebec standard of 150 mg/m by 75%3A. Also, the company is accused by the State of having failed to sample the gases emitted into the atmosphere in 2016 and 2017.
As a result, Arbec was sentenced to pay, cumulatively, the largest fine imposed by the Government of Quebec in terms of the environment for almost five years, according to the register of the Ministry of the Environment: she must pay a fine of $120,000, to which are added legal costs of $35,182.
In an email sent to Duty, the vice-president of the company, Serge Mercier, explains that the standard was exceeded “by certain factors, including the difficulty in maintaining constant combustion in the kettle, the variation in the quality of the bark and the malfunction of the kettle”. The situation has since been corrected, he said.
Joey Saputo’s company was fined another in 2019. This time, it had to pay $31,000 for not burying residual materials at its plant in Port-Cartier, on the North Shore.
Joey Saputo and the forest industry
Arbec Bois d’oeuvre is part of a constellation of forestry companies belonging to Gestion Rémabec, a forestry conglomerate 50% owned by Produits Forestiers Arbec, which is owned by a Joey Saputo investment company. The owner of the CF Montreal soccer club is both president of Rémabec and CEO of Produits Forestiers Arbec.
Joey Saputo refused the interview request of the Duty about its interests in the forestry sector.
On its website, Rémabec presents itself as “the largest private forestry contractor and one of the most important sawyers in Quebec”. And indeed, the group owns 35 subsidiaries and companies in the forestry sector, 11 factories and employs more than 2,000 people. Heavyweight in the industry, its annual harvests reach more than 3 million m³ of wood, or more than 10% of what is harvested each year in Quebec.
According to information from the Registraire des entreprises, the Saputos made their first foray into the forestry sector in 2005. It was the investment company Jolina Capital of Lino Saputo — founder of the food giant Saputo — which became the first shareholder of Arbec Forest Products, a company resulting from the merger of forestry assets of Uniforêt, present on the North Shore.
Also according to the register, Produits Forestiers Arbec sees Joey Saputo becoming its sole shareholder through an investment company in 2007. Since then, the company has consolidated its presence in the Quebec forest industry by acquiring sawmills and processing plants.
The group is, among other things, co-owner of Bioénergie AE Côte-Nord, currently sheltered from its creditors. the Montreal Journal reported Thursday that the company was asking the Quebec government for $30 million in tax credits and financial assistance to support the revival of the plant, the creation of a sector and the resumption of activities at the Arbec sawmill in Port -Cartier.
“Arbec is one of the big players in Quebec. In terms of importance, it is behind Produits Forestiers Résolu, which is a little bigger,” explains Vincent Miville, general manager of the Fédération des producteurs forêt.
Arbec Forest Products essentially consolidated its presence during and after the forestry crisis that shook the industry during the 2000s, a period conducive to mergers and acquisitions. “This consolidation is not exclusive to North America, but it is also observed in South America, Europe and Asia, as in Indonesia in particular,” comments Mr. Miville.
The strategy of Produits Forestiers Arbec and Rémabec differs from other companies in the sector, continues Vincent Miville. They favor, according to him, “what one could qualify as vertical integration”. They hold shares in companies operating in a range of sub-sectors: harvesting, primary and secondary processing, machinery, transportation, construction of forest roads. They do this by “partnering with entrepreneurs on the ground who participate in the company’s efforts”.