The federal government is stepping in with a $100 million loan for Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., the company that runs the pulp mill in Slave Lake, Alberta. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne highlighted the support on July 27, 2026, through the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility, a fund set up to help big Canadian companies weather trade disruptions.
Millar Western employs more than 420 full-time workers and about 300 contractors across its three mills in Slave Lake, Whitecourt, and Quesnel, B.C. For Slave Lake, where forestry accounts for roughly 25 percent of local employment income in the Lesser Slave River region, the loan is a buffer against the weak global market for pulp and lumber.
The company ships 93 percent of its products to Asian markets, mainly China, leaving it exposed to trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Ongoing softwood lumber disputes and U.S. tariffs have created uncertainty for forest workers and their families across Canada. The federal financing is meant to help Millar Western manage those pressures and keep its operations stable.
Millar Western bought the Slave Lake mill from West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. in April 2024 as part of a $120 million deal that also included a mill in Quesnel. At the time, company officials said the Slave Lake site was a well-run asset and they did not expect workforce changes.
The Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility was created in March 2025 with $10 billion in financing to support Canadian companies hit by tariffs and countermeasures. The forest sector has been one of the hardest hit, with some U.S. duties on softwood lumber reaching more than 46 percent for major producers.
