Province hopes to avoid liquidating Trenton plant

Liquidation will be a last resort for the former DSME Trenton facility, Minister of Business Geoff MacLellan confirmed during an exchange with Pictou Centre MLA Pat Dunn in the legislature on Tuesday.

Referencing MacLellan’s Feb. 15 visit to the Trenton plant, which was last used to construct wind turbines, Dunn had asked “will there be additional funds in the upcoming budget to continue the pursuit of prospective buyer for this large facility?”

MacLellan said their intention remains to find a buyer or operator for the facility.

“We have been looking at this for a very long time. The point of the visit, for myself and for the staff, was to get another opportunity to spread the message publicly that we are looking for a suitor and that we want to have serious conversations. We’re getting to that point.”

It costs $150,000 a month to maintain the 430,000 square feet facility, which sits on 116 acres of land, and the province may have to look at other options if they don’t find a buyer for the full facility. “We’re going to have to make a decision very soon. We’re hoping to get something solidified before the end of the fiscal year.”

Dunn acknowledged that the province may have to consider the option to liquidate the assets and asked about plans to remediate the site and possibly giving the land to the Town of Trenton.

MacLellan said they still hope to avoid that, but another option before going for full liquidation of the assets would be to look at selling sections of it.

“Some buildings are very old. Some are new and have had recent retrofits,” MacLellan said. “Again, with the overhead cranes and the significant valued assets that have been invested there, we can look at a sort of mix of remediating some parts of that precinct while selling others and opening up private-sector opportunities. All options are on the table. We just want to do the right thing and avoid any liquidation at all costs.”