The former chief financial officer with Aliant Telecom has been tasked with advising Queens County now that the mill in Brooklyn has shut down.

Sunday, Premier Darrell Dexter named Ron Smith to the position of transition adviser. Smith, who is from Yarmouth County, will set up shop in Liverpool and begin to meet with community leaders today.

Smith said it will ultimately be up to the people of Queens County to change their situations, but his job is to give them the support they will need.

"I'm absolutely confident that the best ideas for the future lie within the people who live there, and the objective will be to draw that out, and to get those ideas articulated and developed and built on, and turned into something that people can make happen," he said.

There has been no discussion of the resources the province will pour into the effort, said Smith.

Others will work intensively on what will happen to the more than 200,000 hectares of timber land that Bowater controls, but that will also factor into Smith's job.

"Obviously the forestry resource in that area is huge, and permeates everything that goes on … and what happens to it is of paramount importance to what goes on in the region, no doubt about that," he said. "The issue of how that is dealt with will be part of what we talk about, a big part."

Ron Smith was once the chief financial officer at Aliant and Emera. (NSBI)

Dexter said communication with the people of Queens County is a high priority.

"It's important at a time like this for us to hear from the community," said Dexter. "It's important that they understand the government of Nova Scotia is standing with them."

More than 300 jobs were lost Saturday when the mill abruptly halted paper production. Resolute Forest Products, which owns the mill, said it has no intention of reopening the operation, and plans on selling its assets in the province.

Hundreds more who worked in the sawmill, power plant and woodlands operations are expected to be affected by the loss of the industry.

Smith's job will be to come up with future economic development opportunities for the county. He'll also serve as a liaison between the region and the province.

"We know, the South Shore knows, there has to be change," said Dexter. "What we're hoping he can help us do is to bring the community together."

According to a release from the province, Smith was once a vice-president and chief financial officer of Emera. He was the chair of the Nova Scotia Jobs Fund board, and a member of the Nova Scotia Business Inc. board.

Smith's resume also includes time as the former chair of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council and Nova Scotia Citizen's Planning Forum.

"Mr. Smith is a well-respected businessman in Nova Scotia. He's got a long history with major industry in the province," said Dexter. He added it was important to act quickly, to make sure a strategy is in place.