CROFTON – The Crofton Pulp Mill, the largest single employer (and taxpayer) in the Municipality of North Cowichan has a new boss. Catalyst Paper, the owner of the pulp mill, has announced that Harold Norlund, a veteran pulp mill manager has now taken over the duties of its former manager Rob Belanger.
Norlund re-joined Catalyst in April 2014 as the company’s vice president and as the general manager of its Port Alberni Division. A Catalyst media release stated that Norlund “brings to his new role at Crofton more than 20 years of cost-reduction and profitability-enhancement experience in operations management, including previous senior roles during his 15 years at the Crofton paper operations.”
Prior to returning to Canada he had worked for the past 12 years at the Nippon Paper Industries USA (NPIUSA) pulp mill in Port Angeles, Washington where he was executive vice president. A professional engineering graduate from the University of Manitoba, with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, Norlund was the former general manager of the Abitibi Mackenzie paper mill.
The North Cowichan’s largest employer, the Crofton Pulp Mill currently has a payroll of nearly 580, and is the region’s largest single taxpayer. Catalyst has not released a reason for Belanger’s departure, but only announced in June that he was about to move on.
