New 1,500-job London plant means $1.2-billion windfall
London is home to the largest, single food industry investment in Canada as Maple Leaf Foods unveiled its new processing plant, which will have a $1.2-billion annual economic effect locally, the company’s chief executive said. The chicken producer made it official Tuesday, announcing a $660-million investment in the city with plans to open a 1,450-job plant that will have a wide-ranging effect on the agri-food sector, said Michael McCain.
“This represents the largest single site investment ever in Canadian food-industry history,” said McCain.
“This is a milestone, a genuine milestone for Canada’s farming and food sectors.”
The state-of-the-art facility will be one of the most “efficient, technologically advanced” plants of its kind in the world, he said. Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive London Economic Development Corp. who worked three years to land Maple Leaf, agreed with McCain’s assessment of the economic effect, saying the new facility’s benefits will be felt throughout the city and region.
“There are a number of ways to look at it, such as the supply chain, direct employment benefits and service providers. This will take a lot of chicken production in Ontario,” said Lakhotia.
It is estimated 75- to 100-million birds a year will be slaughtered and packaged at the plant and shipped to stores. The plant will produce only packaged, fresh chicken, not cooked or prepared food. “Fresh poultry is the No. 1 meat consumed by Canadians and continues to grow in popularity,” said McCain, adding 86 per cent of shoppers prepare chicken at home at least once a week. Maple Leaf bought the land near Highway 401 and Highbury Avenue about a year ago and the deal was finalized by the previous Ontario Liberal government, but reviewed by the now ruling Conservatives.
“Maple Leaf and the McCain family have a rich history in this country, investing in great manufacturing jobs,” Premier Doug Ford said at the announcement. Ford reminisced about working for Canada Packers, earning more than $12 an hour, when he was 16, 38 years ago.
“It was the best job, outside of this job,” he told the gathering at Fanshawe Colleges’ Centre for Product Validation on Bonder Road, where the morning news conference was held.
Ford refused to speak with media after the announcement.
The big winners are the 1,100 chicken farmers across Ontario, many of whom are located in Southwestern Ontario, said Ed Benjamins, president of the Chicken Farmers of Ontario.
The London plant will process about a third of the birds grown in the province.
“For the chicken industry, this is a great story. It absolutely shows confidence in the industry. It is good for farmers,” he said. “We have seen good growth, It is good news. It solidifies the ability to get our product to market.”
The London plant will consolidate work done at three existing Maple Leaf plants in St. Marys, Brampton and Toronto, which will close. That consolidation will take place in two to three years, giving the company and United Food and Commercial Workers Union, representing workers at the three plants, time to work on a transition.
“We have started talks with the employer on what this means, how it will work,” said Tim Deelstra, spokesperson for the union, adding the union and Maple Leaf Foods have “good relations.” Workers at the St. Marys plant earn on average $23 an hour and have pension and benefit plans, said Deelstra.