PRESS RELEASE

Rick Huff, Tolko Vice-President of OSB & Kraft Papers, addresses guests at Tolko EWP groundbreaking on Sept. 26, 2005. Tolko representatives, community, and government break ground for Tolko's new plant in Slave Lake: (left to right) Rick Huff, Tolko Vice-President of OSB & Kraft Papers; Clifford Freeman, Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council; Al Thorlakson, Tolko President & CEO; Hon. Pearl Calahasen, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and MLA for Lesser Slave Lake; Karina Pillay-Kinnee, Mayor of the Town of Slave Lake; Hon. David Coutts, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development; Denny Garratt, Reeve of the MD of Lesser Slave River; John Thorlakson, Tolko Executive Vice-President; and, Elder Jim Isadore who conducted the ceremonial ground blessing. Taking part in the ceremonial tree planting at the celebratory event on the project site includes (left to right) Al Thorlakson, Tolko President & CEO; Hon. Pearl Calahasen, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and MLA for Lesser Slave Lake; Hon. David Coutts, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development; and, John Thorlakson, Tolko Executive Vice-President. Guests to the groundbreaking ceremony were treated to a Traditional Hoop Dance by performer Denny Bellerose.

Slave Lake, Alberta – Government, community, and industry leaders joined Tolko Industries Ltd. (Tolko) to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Company’s new Engineered Wood Products (EWP) facility in Slave Lake, Alberta, on Monday, September 26.

“Tolko Industries is showing faith in the future of forestry in Alberta by committing itself to building this state-of-the-art, value-added facility,” said the Honourable David Coutts, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development. “The Government of Alberta shares Tolko’s recognition of how important it is to add value to the renewable resources harvested from our forests.”

Accompanying Minister Coutts to the event was the Honourable Pearl Calahasen, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and MLA for Lesser Slave Lake. Denny Garratt, Reeve of the Lesser Slave River Municipal District and Karina Pillay-Kinnee, Mayor of the Town of Slave Lake also participated in the event. The on-site activities included a ground blessing in accordance with Aboriginal tradition, a ceremonial tree planting, and a traditional hoop dance.

“This event seems to have carried a theme similar to our town’s mission statement, ‘Working together, building a better community,’” said Pillay-Kinnee. “This project also supports Slave Lake’s vision station of ‘Making opportunities happen.’”

In his address, Tolko President and CEO Al Thorlakson noted that the company will have invested over $750 million once its value-added initiatives in Alberta operations are complete.

“Our initiatives include the agreement we’ve signed with Buchanan Lumber to develop a value added hardwood plant near High Prairie,” said Thorlakson. “We hope to secure sufficient fibre to act on these plans in the near future.”

The $250 million EWP plant will include the world’s longest continuous press in the world. Site preparations are underway and construction is set to begin in spring 2006. A new website for the project is now active at www.TolkoEWP.com.

Tolko is a Canadian-owned forest products company based in Vernon, British Columbia, that manufactures and markets specialty forest products to world markets. In Alberta, Tolko operates three forest product manufacturing facilities and woodlands, directly employing over 630 people year round, with this number increasing to over 1800 during peak harvesting season. Once the EWP project is operating, Tolko will be annually contributing to the province approximately $100 million in direct and indirect wages and provincial and municipal taxes.

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