For decades, Jim Pattison has been one of the most recognisable names in Canadian business.
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From automotive dealerships and food distribution to entertainment and media, the Vancouver entrepreneur built an enormous private business empire and became one of Canada’s best-known billionaires.
But in recent weeks, Pattison’s name has appeared in a very different kind of story.
The closure of the Northwood Pulp Mill in Prince George, British Columbia, is leaving roughly 300 people without jobs — and a local politician has publicly called on Pattison to face the affected workers personally.
A Difficult Moment for Prince George
The dispute centres on Canfor’s Northwood Pulp Mill.
For many workers, the closure represents considerably more than the end of another industrial operation. It means the disappearance of jobs that have supported families and contributed to the local economy for years.
Prince George councillor Brian Skakun, himself a former Canfor employee, made his feelings clear during a July 28 news conference.
He called on Pattison to personally hand final paycheques to approximately 300 employees losing their jobs.
The request was symbolic, but its message was unmistakable.
Skakun argued that senior business figures should see firsthand what major corporate decisions mean for the people affected by them.
Why Jim Pattison Entered the Conversation
Pattison’s connection comes through the corporate structure surrounding Canfor.
The Jim Pattison Group has extensive Canadian business interests, while Pattison himself has spent more than six decades building one of the country’s largest privately held business groups.
Even at an age when most executives would have retired decades earlier, Pattison has remained closely associated with the company carrying his name.
The Jim Pattison Group’s own website continues to describe an organisation pursuing growth and future acquisitions.
That enormous business profile inevitably means Pattison’s name attracts attention when major employment decisions affect communities.
And this is not the first time in 2026 that one of his companies has faced intense public scrutiny.
Earlier This Year, Another Controversy Ended With a Reversal
In January, a company owned by Pattison was preparing to sell a large industrial property in Virginia.
The proposed buyer was the US Department of Homeland Security, and the approximately 550,000-square-foot warehouse was expected to be converted for use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The proposal quickly became controversial in Canada.
Jim Pattison Developments said it had not initially known the intended use of the property.
After the backlash intensified, the company announced that the transaction would not proceed.
It was a rare example of a business transaction involving the Pattison empire becoming an international political story.
But 2026 Has Also Brought a Very Different Pattison Story
Only months later, his name was attached to one of British Columbia’s most significant new health-care facilities.
The Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower at Royal Columbian Hospital opened its first major services to patients on May 31.
The 10-storey facility includes 388 beds, a substantially expanded emergency department, intensive care facilities and specialised cardiac services. Further maternity, neonatal and surgical services are scheduled to open later in 2026.
The building bears Pattison’s name because of a $30 million donation to the project.
On its opening day, more than 200 existing hospital patients were moved into the new tower, in what Fraser Health described as one of the largest patient transfers in British Columbia’s history.
The contrast between the stories is striking.
On one side is a major philanthropic project intended to expand medical care for thousands of people.
On the other is an industrial closure leaving hundreds of workers facing an uncertain future.
That Contrast Explains the Attention Around Pattison
Jim Pattison has occupied an unusual position in Canadian public life for decades.
He is not a politician, yet the scale of his companies means decisions connected with his business interests can have consequences for entire communities.
That makes the current situation in Prince George particularly sensitive.
For the workers losing their jobs, corporate strategy is not an abstract discussion about balance sheets or long-term competitiveness.
It determines what happens to their families next.
And that is precisely the point Skakun attempted to make by publicly asking Pattison to meet them.
A Business Legacy Still Being Written
At 97, Jim Pattison has already had a business career spanning more than six decades.
The company he founded in 1961 expanded far beyond its beginnings in the automobile business and today operates across numerous industries.
Yet 2026 demonstrates how difficult it is to reduce such a career to a single narrative.
Within the same year, Pattison’s name has been connected to a controversial US property transaction that was ultimately abandoned, the opening of a major hospital tower bearing his name, and now a painful industrial closure affecting hundreds of Canadian workers.
For Prince George, however, the immediate issue is much simpler.
Hundreds of workers are preparing to leave Northwood for the final time.
And one local councillor wants one of Canada’s most famous businessmen to be there when they do.
