Now the initial shock has worn off, North Battleford is moving forward with plans to respond to the closure of the Maple Leaf Foods plant.
The City and Maple Leaf Foods announced Wednesday the establishment of a joint task force to respond to the closure of the plant as well as the workers affected and the future of the plant at 100 Canola Ave. The new task force will include representation from the City of North Battleford, Service Canada, the Ministry of Advanced Education, Enterprise Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and Maple Leaf Foods.
This will be the initial makeup of the task force, but it may expand over time. The first meeting of the task force will be Dec. 1.
North Battleford's Director of Business Development Denis Lavertu told the News-Optimist the decision to set up a joint task force followed initial discussions with Maple Leaf Foods immediately following the announcement of the closure Oct. 19.
"Following the announcement by Maple Leaf we were in discussion with them about next steps," said Lavertu. "What came up was really a joint task force, and really what the task force would do is look at two components."
The first is to ensure employees and families are provided "with all the services and transition needs that they would need," said Lavertu.
A total of 330 employees are impacted by the closure.
The other, said Lavertu, is " the transition of the building to a new user or a new tenant."
That would involve efforts to attract investment to plant and create more job opportunities.
He expects the first meeting of task force will be to define the scope of everyone's duties and determine what roles and responsibilities are for the various partners. They also may determine at that time if any more players are needed at the table.
A number of different groups have been brought on board on the employee side, including Service Canada and the Ministry of Advanced Education, providing career and employment services.
On the investment-attraction side, Enterprise Saskatchewan and the Ministry of Agriculture will be involved. As well, Maple Leaf has pledged to involve a couple of their top executives, Lavertu said.
Work is already underway to look for new investors for the soon-to-be-vacant plant. Nov. 15, Lavertu was in Saskatoon meeting with foreign trade officers representing Canada in the United States, some of whom represent the food processing sector.
"They have many connections with Fortune 500 companies who, because of the U.S. economy, are sitting on a lot of capital. So there might be an opportunity for investment and expansion as well into Canada," said Lavertu.
Lavertu noted other communities affected by the closures of Maple Leaf plants across Canada are looking to set up similar task forces. Kitchener, which is losing a plant employing 1,200 workers, is another community considering the idea, he said.
However, North Battleford is "quick out of the gate as far as task forces go and having our initial meeting set up and moving it forward," said Lavertu.
"We've been pretty proactive about making sure we get this rolling pretty quickly, because we have some good time. It's 18 months or so before the closure, so we do have this good opportunity to make this happen and transition it."
Maple Leaf Foods has said they have had success in finding alternative uses for their plants following previous closures. In a statement issued Nov.16, Maple Leaf Foods Chief Strategy Officer Doug Dodds expressed his company's commitment to working with the city and others to find alternatives.
"We are working with all government bodies as well as the private sector to reduce the impact of this closure on our people, the community and the local economy," Dodds said. "With the facility due to close in the first half of 2013, we have the time to plan and achieve a good outcome for our people and the city of North Battleford."
The involvement on the task force of a number of provincial government departments, including the ministries of Advanced Education and Agriculture, follows on what Premier Brad Wall told reporters Nov. 3 about what the province's role would be in helping the city deal with the closure.
"We have a group of people within Advanced Education and Employment, when there's any layoffs or structural changes in an economy, they move into that community to meet with workers and provide counseling, to provide some help where needed," Wall said during a campaign stop in North Battleford.
The premier also pledged to keep working on the fundamentals of the economy.
"I'm optimistic of the future of this area with or without Maple Leaf," Wall added.
Lavertu says his department's plans for 2012 and beyond are going to be focused on investment attraction. He plans to attend a number of trade shows and conferences "to build our networking connections." Lavertu is also working on a proposal for a detailed marketing plan and investment attraction campaign that he plans to present council for approval.
His department also plans to provide specific information to the province and the foreign trade office about the soon-to-be vacant facility, so they can also get the message out to investors on what is available.
Lavertu expressed confidence North Battleford will attract a replacement to the Maple Leaf plant and that the community will get through the transition and continue to attract businesses and jobs. Lavertu cited the five new building plans presented at council last Monday worth about $10 million, including one for Jaydee Agtech's new John Deere dealership.
"It was something that's unfortunate in the restructuring of Maple Leaf. I guess the one thing we can say, though, is it's not a reflection at all of our local economy," said Lavertu. "The economy is still thriving."
