International

Norbord Inc.: Norbord Inc. said it will suspend operations at two oriented strand board mills in Quebec as the U.S. housing slump curbs demand. About 130 employees will be laid off.

Lear Corporation: Automotive seat maker Lear Corp. will close a plant in Windsor, Ont., the Canadian Auto Workers union announced recently. The move will eliminate more than 160 jobs, the union said. Workers manufacture auto ceiling parts called headliners that go into the Buick Lucerne sedan sold by General Motors Corp.

Suzuki Motor and General Motors Company: Cami Automotive Inc. is planning to scale back vehicle production next year, a move that will wipe out an estimated 500 jobs as the downturn in the U.S. auto market batters Canadian vehicle assembly plants again. The auto maker is effectively eliminating one shift of production. CAMI is a 50-50 joint venture between Suzuki Motor and General Motors of Canada. CAMI Automotive specializes in building entry-level vehicles. Past models include the Chevrolet Tracker, the Suzuki Vitara, the Suzuki Swift, the Suzuki Sidekick, the Chevrolet (Geo) Metro, and the Chevrolet Equinox. Currently the company builds the Pontiac Torent, a compact SUV. Through its manufacturing facility in Ingersoll, Ontario, CAMI Automotive operates four production departments: stamping, welding, paint, and assembly.

Abitibibowater Inc.: Forestry giant AbitibiBowater Inc. made cuts to its Canadian operations, shutting six mills and one paper machine, cutting about 1,621 jobs and dashing the hopes of about 1,000 other employees who had thought that their previously idled mills might reopen. The announcement, made 27 days after Abitibi-Consolidated and the paper division of Bowater merged, will reduce the new company's total workforce by more than eight per cent and further slash its newsprint and commercial paper production by about one million tonnes. All but one of the targeted facilities are in Canada, with the hardest-hit operations in eastern Canada, particularly in Quebec. The lone U.S. facility to be closed is a previously idled paper mill in Texas.