Email exchanges illustrate how the City of North Bay helped Industrial Plastics Canada access funding from the Ontario government, while offering invitations to lunch and a sporting event.
Just one part of newly released correspondence shows a representative from Industrial Plastics Canada thanking an official with the City of North Bay for helping secure $2.1 million in provincial funding for the company.
The correspondence, obtained by The Narwhal through freedom of information legislation, shows how city officials cultivated a close relationship with the company and promoted its interests, despite concerns from local residents about environmental safety concerns at the new local Industrial Plastics factory.
Emails show the city vouched for the international plastics company to help it benefit from the recent Northern Ontario Heritage Fund investment, despite concern from local residents about the company’s plans to use polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, a substance used in Teflon and known to have potential environmental consequences.
Industrial Plastics Canada technically started operations in October 2023, and received $2.1 million in provincial funding to get going — with some help from the City of North Bay. Photo: Vanessa Tignanelli / The Narwhal
City officials guided the company through the application process for the funding, while planning a lunch with the company president, inviting its local representative to a curling tournament and helping the company do damage control in the face of media scrutiny.
Canadian ethicist Arthur Schafer said discussing business over meals and sports is “how the game is played.” But he also said some of the city’s behaviour is ethically “shabby,” given what appears to be a lack of due diligence on the city’s part at times — for example, Industrial Plastics’ didn’t have environmental permits in place when the mayor reassured residents its operations were safe. Questions remain unanswered among a public concerned about the company’s potential environmental impact.
PTFE falls into a larger group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals” because they can generate hazardous waste which, if not disposed of carefully, contaminates air, water and soil where it can remain for about 1,000 years.
Industrial Plastics did not respond to a request for comment on this story but a company spokesman told The Narwhal in June 2023 the use of PTFE at the factory poses no risk. The company says the substance is “considered safe, non-bioaccumulative and non-toxic,” and its operations will not produce waste. The company is part of a conglomerate headquartered in Italy called Guarniflon and owned by Mazza Holding, which has a presence across Europe as well as in India and China, billing itself one of the “largest worldwide manufacturers of PTFE products.”
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North Bay officialshelpedIndustrialPlastics secure funding to start production
Before Industrial Plastics Canada started producing its PTFE products, the City of North Bay reached out to the Government of Ontario on its behalf for support in ramping up its operations.
“The company has a very aggressive timeline to get the new manufacturing plant operational,” North Bay’s economic development manager, Erin Richmond, wrote in a high priority email to the province’s Northern Development branch, in August 2022. “Given such long lead times on equipment these days, we’re hoping [Industrial Plastics Canada] can submit an application very soon …”
Later that month, the company’s former general manager, Steve Fowler, thanked Richmond for her assistance, which included helping the company prepare an application for the Northern Heritage funding. “The support and guidance that you’ve given us is above and beyond, true northern hospitality!” Fowler, who has since left the company, wrote.
The conversation continued the following month, in September 2022, when Richmond emailed Fowler saying, “I completely forgot to mention this on Friday while we were working on the application. Next week, North Bay will be hosting the 2022 Pinty’s Grand Slam Curling Championship. Because of your recent investment and new operation in North Bay, we invite you to join our economic development team while enjoying world class curling … Hope you can make it.”
From Oct. 4 to 9, 2022, North Bay Memorial Gardens hosted the first event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season, bringing teams from around the world compete. A City of North Bay official invited the local representative of Industrial Plastics Canada — along with family and friends — to the city’s suite for the event. Photo: Anil Mungal / Grand Slam of Curling
Fowler replied to ask whether he could bring his wife and friends, to which Richmond responded he was welcome to four tickets, adding, “We’ll meet you and your three guests … in suite 310 for all the curling fun!” While representatives of other local businesses also attended, the city did not respond to questions about what other companies received complimentary tickets or invitations to the city’s suite.
One local resident said he was frustrated and concerned about the relationship between North Bay city officials and the plastics company leadership.
“Knowing that they would go so far as to have this sort of chummy relationship … It’s not surprising, but it’s very disappointing,” said Jason Harris, an Ojibwe filmmaker who has lived in the Nipissing region his whole life. His concern about Industrial Plastics Canada is the potential impact of PTFE on the environment and ecosystems on which many people, including the nearby Nipissing First Nation, subsist — and where waterways are already contaminated with PFAS from past firefighting activities.
Months after the curling competition, Fowler, a North Bay local, emailed to introduce Mayor Peter Chirico to Industrial Plastics’ president Andrea Arlati on March 15, 2023, saying “I believe the two of you will hit it off famously.”
Industrial Plastics and North Bay officials discuss response to public concern
In the year leading up to Industrial Plastics’ grand opening, the city and company appeared to strategize in email correspondence about how to refute media reports and quell consequent citizen concerns.
That summer, city staff discussed with Industrial Plastics their public response to an investigation published by The Narwhal on July 6, 2023, about the new plastics company arriving in the city.
Richmond, with the City of North Bay, emailed Arlati on July 12, 2023, to thank him for working directly with the city’s communications officer “to address this unfortunate situation.” She added, “I must reiterate that the loud, misinformed voices of a few don’t represent the opinion of an entire community. We are appreciative of the company’s commitment to, and investment in, North Bay and look forward to our continued working relationship.”
Meanwhile, the records show city staff exchanging emails such as: “We’ve received a number of calls and messages regarding this,” and, “My phone has been ringing and inbox filling with inquiries and questions” from residents about Industrial Plastics’ operations.
Five days later, Industrial Plastics’ president Arlati emailed Chirico on July 17, 2023, saying, “Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I am writing to confirm our lunch meeting tomorrow. Do you have any preference for the lunch venue? Looking forward to seeing you.”
Harris, the local filmmaker and an organizer of citizen group Stop Industrial Plastics Canada, sees the exchanges as evidence of an elite group of business and industry leaders with close ties to the city: “Unfortunately, this seems the sort of ongoing state of an in-group …”
Industrial Plastics opens its doors to the public, and for business
Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, said the lunch invitation between Chirico and Arlati, and the curling tournament invite aren’t unusual.
What he found disconcerting is the municipality appears to be forgoing meaningful consultation with the public, as well as independent investigation into possible environmental and health harms from the company’s operations. There has been seemingly no voluntary environmental assessment done of the project, and no provincial assessment is required of the private sector. Private projects are subject to regulations if specific chemicals are involved, but while some “forever chemicals” are regulated by Health Canada, PTFE is not.
But, on July 11, 2023, five days after The Narwhal’s initial investigation, a representative from Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks visited the Industrial Plastics Canada site. Emails obtained by The Narwhal show the company still had no idea what environmental permissions it would require, though it was four months away from its technical opening date.
After that visit, Industrial Plastics’ production manager asked the provincial officer in an email: “What is the exact section of the act and the requirements for exhausting outside from the oven and what permit is required to be submitted.” The manager appears to be referring to Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act, which governs the protection and conservation of the province’s land, water, air and wildlife habitat.
In an effort to educate citizens on its plan, Industrial Plastics invited community groups to tour the factory on a few occasions in summer 2023, including some members of the 1,400-person strong group Harris organized.
“We were expecting to get more detailed information,” Brennain Lloyd, project manager at environmental advocacy organization Northwatch, previously told The Narwhal after attending a tour.
After the tours wrapped up, on Aug. 11, 2023, Arlati wrote to Richmond at the city: “We have finally noticed that the noise and commotion around the environmental issue are dwindling. I believe opening the doors to several groups was very beneficial. The last request from many of the visitors was for us to participate in the next meeting of the so-called ‘concerned citizens.’ The meeting has been scheduled for next Tuesday … We are considering participating, but I would like to know your thoughts.”
North Bay residents have voiced concerns over Industrial Plastics Canada’s use of PFAS — a substance used in Teflon and known to have potential environmental consequences. A spokesperson for the company has said its use of PFAS poses no risk. Photo: Vanessa Tignanelli / The Narwhal
The documents did not contain Richmond’s response but Industrial Plastics representatives, including Arlati, attended a citizen-organized meeting over the summer to address concerns and answer questions, five days after this email thread occurred.
Shortly after the public meeting, Richmond emailed an adviser with provincial Northern Development about the controversy around Industrial Plastics’ operations: “I’m sure you’re likely seeing some media coverage regarding PFAS and IPC … I wanted to proactively reach out to provide some factual information and context as I’m sure [the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation] is now following the evolving narrative.”
Industrial Plastics Canada president Arlati was included in the email thread, and added, “We are grateful for your support. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We made every effort to approach the situation in a reasonable manner and provide accurate information about our facility processes. Regrettably, our efforts were met with disregard and the spread of false information. While I normally try to see the best in people, this appears to be a deliberate and entirely baseless attack. Rest assured, we have no association with the products in question.”
Industrial Plastics contacted The Narwhal in response to the original reporting, sharing a video from an India-based chemical company explaining PTFE is low risk, and arguing the reporting was inaccurate. With the factory technically going into operation in October 2023 according to provincial documents, its emissions are listed publicly on the provincial Environmental Activity and Sector Registry — a self-registry for companies deemed lower risk, in lieu of the stricter regulation through an Environmental Compliance Approval. The registry shows it is emitting PTFE at a concentration of 8.5 micrograms per cubic metre of air, which is below the concentration at which the province would require potential adverse effects to be assessed.
The Northern Development officer responded to Arlati, writing, “I can imagine and hear your frustration and see that you have tried to be transparent. Not to worry about any extra work on my end at all.”
Schafer said it appears the company is trying to “seduce” the municipality with the prospect of jobs and investment but “the ethics of the situation looks shabby. The response of the city officials in particular doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Another year of keeping a close watch
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And in 2024, our stories were raised in parliaments across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.
In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”
Here at The Narwhal, we don’t use profit, awards or pageviews to measure success. The thing that matters most is real-world impact — evidence that our reporting influenced citizens to hold power to account and pushed policymakers to do better.
And in 2024, our stories were raised in parliaments across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.
In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”
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