A community meeting in Clearwater this evening is being billed as an opportunity for residents to ask questions of their local leaders.

Mayor Merlin Blackwell says representatives from Canfor and Interfor will be present in the wake of the Vavenby mill closure and sale of timber cutting rights in the area.

Blackwell is expecting a full house at Clearwater Secondary School.

“Basically we are trying to explain to people what the process is. Some of the resources available to them and where Canfor and Interfor are going to go from here as far as jobs and logging and continuing the forest industry in the North Thompson until the Bill 22 process is settled,” he said.

Blackwells adds both the Premier John Horgan and Forests Minster Doug Donaldson have both been invited, noting the door is open for them to visit the area anytime in the future.

“We would like to keep the door open that if they do want to come up in the next month or so and visit, it would be more than welcome,” added Blackwell.

“We will be very friendly. We just want to show them what they have for the possibility of investment here in Clearwater. We’ve got a lot of strong economic ideas here and we’re not looking for charity, we’re looking for an investment in the future here.”

In addition to politicians, groups like Community Futures Thompson County, Work BC and Kamloops Innovation among others will also be in attendance tonight as well.

Blackwell says those groups have a lot to offer like job retraining and job subsidies.

“And then sort of alternative entrepreneurial opportunities if you do happen to find yourself out of work and maybe you want to start a small scale mill or a secondary wood manufacturing enterprise or something along those lines,” he said.

“That’s why why we’ve done it in sort of a two tiered format, which is one presentations up front but then people can go up afterwards and meet these people and have conversations.”

The meeting is set to get underway at 7 p.m.