DRYDEN, Ontario (AP) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper learned firsthand Friday about the devastation in Canada’s forestry industry but he didn’t meet with hard-pressed workers or offer any solutions.

As part of a two-day northwestern Ontario tour, Harper stopped in Dryden, a city of 8,000 whose major employer is the Domtar Corp. mill. Dryden Mayor Anne Krassilowski says over the past four years, the mill’s workforce has been halved, to about 600 workers.

Domtar’s difficulties have been felt across the border in Maine and other states where it has mills. Domtar announced this summer it will shut down a paper machine and eliminate 150 jobs at its Baileyville, Maine, mill, which has been a pillar of the local economy.

Similar stories have been repeated in lumber towns across Canada as the soaring Canadian dollar hikes the cost of lumber exports to the United States, just as that country teeters on the brink of a possible recession. British Columbia is grappling with the added devastation wrought by the pine beetle.

Harper met behind closed doors with Dryden’s community leaders Friday, and held a similar meeting later the same day in Kenora, where he rallied Tory troops at an event to support local candidate Greg Rickford.

Harper told the audience of about 200 supporters they discussed problems in the forestry sector at the meetings.

“We know there’s a lot more that needs to be done. And we’re going to be focused on getting things done for this region as well, ladies and gentleman,” he said.

In Dryden, Krassilowski and others had few negative words as they emerged from the private meeting, in which they reportedly discussed forestry and economic development at a quaint hotel overlooking Dryden’s mill, a monstrosity that literally looms over Ontario’s smallest city.

But Domtar was not included in the meeting, prompting a spokesman for the mill’s union to call on Harper’s government to host a public forum on the forest industry crisis.

“My position is we need a forum to get the problem out there and make solutions. We’re just not getting that opportunity,” said Cec Makowski, Ontario vice president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office said the company was invited to the meeting.

“We left, I believe, two messages, but nobody ever called back,” said Dimitri Soudas.

Makowski blasted Harper for not including workers in the roundtable discussion, adding he’s not surprised Harper would “just go into a back room” with industry and municipal leaders. But he said the issue needs greater attention than that.

“Again, this is very troubling. We are the largest union representing forestry workers in Canada,” Makowski said.

New Democrats were so quick to criticize the Conservatives for failing to announce relief for the forestry sector, the party issued a statement about it before Harper had even arrived in Dryden.

“The high Canadian dollar is having a devastating impact on manufacturing jobs and it’s causing real difficulty for thousands and thousands of working families who are finding themselves on the street because of it. And our government just waves its hand and says, ‘Ah well, there’s nothing we can do’,” NDP leader Jack Layton said in a statement.

The forestry sector has lost about 9,000 jobs since 2002, according to the Ontario Forestry Coalition.

AP-ES-10-27-07 1103EDT