Millar Western gets C$100M federal loan as forest sector reels from trade disputes
What's the deal? The Government of CanadaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is providing a C$100 million loan to Millar Western Forest Products through the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility, Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne announced on July 27, 2026. The loan comes via the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation.
Who's the borrower? Millar Western produces hardwood and softwood pulp from three mills in Slave Lake and Whitecourt, Alberta, and Quesnel, British Columbia. It employs more than 420 full-time workers and supports roughly 300 contractors.
Why now? Trade disputes — particularly between the US and China — have weakened market conditions for softwood lumber, pulp, and other forest products. That matters acutely for Millar Western: as an export-oriented business, it sends 93% of sales to Asian markets, primarily China.
What's the money for? The loan gives Millar Western flexibility to strengthen near-term operations, including rebuilding its log inventory, while adapting to evolving markets and protecting jobs.
The bigger picture: Canada's forest sector directly employs nearly 200,000 people and anchors many rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. The government positioned the loan as protecting jobs and the competitiveness of "a key Canadian industry."
The signal: The LETL facility, a C$10 billion financing programme created in March 2025, was built to support Canadian companies hit by tariffs and countermeasures. The Millar Western loan shows Ottawa deploying that capital to shield export-heavy sectors from trade shocks — a defensive playbook likely to be repeated as global trade tensions persist.
Read more: Government of Canada
Image credit: USDAgov
