Maple Leaf Foods coming back to Hamilton

Maple Leaf is coming back to Hamilton and they’re promising to bring 670 jobs with them to a brand new plant at the North Glanbrook Industrial Park. The plant is expected to open in the spring of 2014.

But the new plant comes at a price: Maple Leaf will close processing plants in Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto in Ontario; in North Battleford, Sask.; Moncton and a small facility in Winnipeg by the end of 2014.
The company says the plan will create 1,150 new jobs but the associated plant closures will more than offset that, resulting in a net loss of 1,550 positions from among its 21,000 employees.
Maple Leaf says it will build new prepared meats facility in Hamilton, Ont., and will also invest in plants in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Brampton, Ont.

The company will also close four of its distribution centres — in Moncton, N.B., Burlington, Ont., Kitchener, Ont., and Coquitlam, B.C. — consolidating distribution for Eastern Canada in a new facility in Ontario and using an existing facility in Saskatoon as its Western Canadian hub.
The new plant will be 400,000 square feet and cost $390 million, according to Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain.

Council met behind closed doors Wednesday to discuss the deal. Maple Leaf is holding a press conference this afternoon to discuss the deal, but Hamilton city officials say they won't be making an official announcement until tomorrow morning.
The company sold its Burlington hog processing plant in October last year to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. for about $20 million.