The OlyWest project is creeping toward reality, but it’s unclear whether the major hog processing plant is gaining or losing public support in Winnipeg.
The backers of the project, which includes Olymel Foods of Quebec, Hytek of Manitoba and Big Sky Farms of Saskatchewan, have applied for a licence to build a plant to process 45,000 hogs per week in east Winnipeg.
This begins a complex process that if successful means the plant will not be completed until after 2007.
The Manitoba conservation department has received the application, but a licence will not be granted until after the Clean Environment Commission holds a lengthy series of hearings to assess the environmental and community impacts of the plant being built.
Read Also
Government, industry seek canola tariff resolution
Governments and industry continue to discuss how best to deal with Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, particularly canola.
Rules requiring tough environmental assessment of manufacturing facilities were introduced after the public controversy over a hog slaughter plant in Brandon and its impact on local water quality.
The government does not have to follow the commission’s recommendations.
The OlyWest proposal has ignited intense debate within Winnipeg city council, where opposition from residents of the Transcona neighbourhood has led to rancorous debate within city council.
But apart from extending some subsidies to the project, the city government has little influence over it because it is planned for land already designed to house heavy manufacturing. OlyWest does not need to apply for any special designations from the city.
Provincial politicians, responding to the controversy, have repeatedly urged Manitobans to wait until the Clean Environment Commission hearings before deciding whether to support the project.
The issue is becoming part of Winnipeg’s city election campaign, with a former mayoral candidate planning to run against an incumbent councillor who supports the OlyWest project.
It is unclear whether public support is growing or waning. Both opponents and proponents say that will become clear once the summer holiday season has ended.
Recently a significant opponent of the project – a major industrial landlord who owns much of the land near the proposed plant – said the OlyWest proponents had convinced him that the project would not be bad for him or his properties. He now supports the hog plant.
