Envitable, but shitty nonetheless.
Eurocan offically announced that it's closing the Kitimat branch by January 31st, 2010. My dad works there, as do the parents of a lot of friends from Kitimat. This is on so many levels of suckage that I can't even wrap my mind around it. Even knowing things weren't good sales-wise for the company, it just didn't sink it would happen so soon. That's not even 6 months away. It was just felt so sudden.
I don't know how bad it'll be for my dad, but I'm sure they saved enough and he's close to retirement. But what in the shit will happen to my hometown? That's no jobs for over 500 people and their families! People who aren't close to retirement will have to find other jobs and we all know that Kitimat has nothing to offer and even less of nothing that can compare to the industrial wages people were getting at the mill. What options are there? How can people even afford to stay there? How long will it be until Alcan pulls the plug too?
While not always being the biggest fan of the community/town, I'm really sad about this and it's hard to think that positively about it. Kitimat shouldn't be a ghost town, and I hope things turn around. :(
I don't know how bad it'll be for my dad, but I'm sure they saved enough and he's close to retirement. But what in the shit will happen to my hometown? That's no jobs for over 500 people and their families! People who aren't close to retirement will have to find other jobs and we all know that Kitimat has nothing to offer and even less of nothing that can compare to the industrial wages people were getting at the mill. What options are there? How can people even afford to stay there? How long will it be until Alcan pulls the plug too?
While not always being the biggest fan of the community/town, I'm really sad about this and it's hard to think that positively about it. Kitimat shouldn't be a ghost town, and I hope things turn around. :(