Maple Leaf Foods gets $34.5 million for London plant from Ontario government

Thestar.com
November 28, 2018
Kristin Rushowy

It’s not chicken feed.

Ontario taxpayers are giving Maple Leaf Foods $34.5 million toward a new $660-million poultry-processing plant in London, Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday morning.

Maple Leaf Foods: The London plant is also receiving $20 million from the federal government.

“The investment in this facility, it’s not only the largest investment in the poultry industry, but the largest investment in food-processing ever in Canada,” Ford said in the southwestern Ontario city.

“That’s why we put up the $34.5 million, creating great jobs” -- 1,450 directly, plus 1,700 construction and spinoff jobs, said Ford.

The London plant is also receiving $20 million from the federal government, and Ford said the facility “will modernize processing and help make Ontario’s chicken farmers more competitive” by boosting food safety, productivity and animal welfare.

News of the money for the London plant comes on the heels of Maple Leaf’s announcement that it will close three plants by 2022, including one in Toronto, which employs about 680 United Food and Commercial Workers.

The other two are in St. Marys and Brampton, and, together, employ about 800 UFCW workers.

The UFCW’s Don Taylor said members have been told they can relocate.

“It is an old plant, and given the area it’s in, it’s pretty much at capacity and there’s no room for expansion,” said Taylor, central region director for UFCW Canada Local 1006A, of the Toronto plant.

“The company confirmed that they will be provided with opportunities to go to the London plant, and … they do have other plants in the Toronto area where there are opportunities, and they will be offering opportunities to our members.”

The 640,000-square-foot London facility will be state-of-the-art and comes at a time when chicken has become the most popular, and fastest-growing, protein choice in the country.

Maple Leaf CEO and President Michael McCain said in a written statement that “this world-class facility will enable Maple Leaf to meet the steadily growing consumer demand for premium, value-added poultry products, and strengthen Canada’s food system.

“This is a historic investment in the Canadian poultry sector, providing significant stakeholder and economic benefits, and ensuring that Canada has sufficient domestic processing capacity to meet forecasted poultry production and demand.”

The London plant is expected to open in 2021, and will lead to 300 construction jobs and another 1,400 spinoff positions.

Ontario’s food and beverage processing sector brings in more than $39 billion a year. It is the third largest in Canada and the U.S., based on employment.

Economic Development Minister Todd Smith said the government decided to go ahead with the taxpayer aid for Maple Leaf while all business support programs are under review because the London area has been “hit hard” by job losses in manufacturing for years.

“We felt that this was a commitment that we could make,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“It was really important in the eyes of our minister of agriculture and our premier and our cabinet and team that we make this significant investment in agri-food.”

Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman is from the riding of Oxford, just east of London.