‘We got completely played for suckers,’ MP says of recent takeovers in

Opposition MPs are expressing concern that after buying up two major Canadian companies, the foreign owner of one of Canada’s biggest forestry businesses is now also formally taking over an Indonesian-Chinese pulp and paper conglomerate from his family — a company he has long denied operating in tandem with.

A half-page notice quietly published by the European Union on Monday states that Jackson Wijaya, owner of Paper Excellence, is acquiring “sole control” of Asia Pulp & Paper from his father, Teguh Ganda Wijaya (also known as Oei Tjie Goan).

CBC News originally reached out to Paper Excellence with emailed questions on Thursday afternoon, but the company did not immediately respond. Shortly after this story was published on Friday, a Paper Excellence spokesperson confirmed the ownership transfer of APP, writing in an email that the latest development represents “normal course succession planning” by the senior Wijaya.

The controversial conglomerate has a record of forest destruction in Indonesia and has been a target of Indonesian and global environmental groups.

After it acquired Canadian pulp and paper companies Domtar in 2021 and Resolute Forest Products in 2023 — all with the federal government’s blessing — Paper Excellence became the largest private manager of forests in Canada, controlling 22 million hectares, an area four times the size of Nova Scotia.

The company has repeatedly stated — including in testimony before Parliament last year — that while Jackson Wijaya got some assistance from his family in the early years of Paper Excellence, which he founded in 2007, the Canadian and foreign entities have operated completely independently for years.

“We got completely played for suckers by a very dubious company,” Charlie Angus, the NDP critic for natural resources, said in reaction to this week’s announcement.

“I don’t think the Canadian government would have ever allowed Asia Pulp & Paper [to buy Domtar and Resolute] because of its dubious record. So the family sets up another company. The family says, ‘Oh, we’re not connected in any way.’ Despite the obvious connections, they get.… to buy Canadian resources. So we are in a position that was entirely predictable,” Angus said.

Jennifer Johnson, vice-president of communications for Paper Excellence, which last month announced it was going to adopt the Domtar name for its business, strongly disputed that idea.

“Domtar (formerly Paper Excellence) group was founded by Jackson Wijaya, as his sole initiative with a view to building a business that would reflect his ambition and values,” Johnson wrote in an email to CBC. “Our key message to all Domtar executives and employees is that they must at all times act exclusively in the best…