TORONTO – B.C. Opposition Leader Adrian Dix ventured into unfamiliar territory as he stood at the Toronto Stock Exchange to mark the successful restructuring of a B.C.-based pulp and paper company.
The New Democratic Party leader joined executives of Catalyst Paper (TSX: CYT) to ring the TSX siren marking the opening of the trading day in Toronto, and a symbolic fresh start for Catalyst.
Dix, whose party represents ridings where Catalyst mills operate in B.C., stood beside officials of YPG, Canada’s largest directory publisher and a long-standing Catalyst customer, celebrating the Richmond-based company’s return to trading.
Catalyst was delisted from the market last March but completed a court-supervised restructuring last June.
Among other things, Catalyst shed its Snowflake paper mill in Arizona and reworked deals with employees, customers and suppliers in order to maintain pulp and paper mills in Crofton, Port Alberni and Powell River.
Dix, working to win business support for the New Democrats as B.C. heads toward an election in May, accepted Catalyst’s invitation to Monday’s event — an invitation also extended to Premier Christy Clark, but apparently declined.