The governments of Canada and Manitoba will provide $2.5 million toward the construction of a modern dairy processing facility in St. Boniface, Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Manitoba Agriculture, Food, and Rural, Development Minister Kostyshyn announced today.
The new facility, owned by Parmalat Canada Inc., will be built at the St. Boniface Industrial Park Phase 2, a 180 acre site off Dugald Road and east of Lagimodiere Boulevard. The decision to replace an aging building with a new $50 million facility in a new location will allow the company to increase production with modern equipment in a neighbourhood more suitable for its business. Government funding will be used for energy and water use reduction equipment, wastewater treatment and new processing equipment.
Minister Kostyshyn noted this initiative supports Manitoba's goal of creating a $5.5 billion per year value-added food industry by 2022.
In July of this year, the City of Winnipeg announced they would sell city-owned property in St. Boniface to Parmalat Canada worth $2.625 million, allowing the company to keep their dairy operation in Winnipeg. Offset by the sale of the land, the city, Manitoba government, and Parmalat Canada will cover the $5.61 million cost to extend services like electrical and water to the new facility.
Parmalat Canada employs 139 Manitobans at facilities in St. Boniface, St. Claude, and Grunthal. New hires are expected once the expanded facility in St. Boniface becomes operational in 2017.
Funds for this project were issued as part of Growing Forward 2, a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial policy framework to advance the agriculture industry. The federal and provincial governments are investing $176 million in cost-shared programming in Manitoba, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets.
Source : Government of Canada