Hamilton chosen as site for megabakery
February 17, 2010
Emma Reilly
Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/723489
Hamilton will be the new home of a multimillion-dollar megabakery, officials announced this afternoon.
Canada Bread Co. has purchased a parcel of land in the North Glanbrook Industrial Park to build the country's largest bakery. The move is expected to bring 300 new jobs to Hamilton, as well as an extra 120 jobs during construction.
Gary Goodyear, the federal minister responsible for southern Ontario's Federal Economic Development Agency, was also on hand this afternoon to announce $2 million in design and engineering support for the project. The cash is intended to kick-start the project as part of the economic action plan.
The Toronto-based bakery expects to
break ground on the factory in June and hopes to be partially operational in 2011. It will be fully operational in 2012.
Canada Bread will become the first tenant in the North Glanbrook Industrial Park, a 680-acre patch of land at the south end of Hamilton that has become one of the linchpins of the city's economic development plans. This is the first major deal for the park since 2005, when plans to open a $250-million Maple Leaf plant fell through amid great controversy.
In January, Canada Bread announced the closure of its three aging bakery operations in Toronto to consolidate its operations under one roof in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Hamilton already has a Canada Bread bakery operation, on Nebo Road. More than 90 employees work there.
Canada Bread Company Ltd. is 89.8 per cent owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc. It employs 8,500 employees in North America and the United Kingdom.