When hog plant supporter Denis Tetrault rose from his seat in the public gallery of Winnipeg’s city hall to offer it to an elderly female opponent of the plant, it was a rare moment of civility.
Throughout most of the day there was anger, outrage, drama and confrontation at city hall. But in the end, opponents of a proposed OlyWest hog slaughter plant for Winnipeg failed to remove city council’s incentive package for the huge project.
Council voted 10 to 6 against a motion calling for the withdrawal of a $3.4 million incentive package. The councillors voted roughly on the same lines as in November when it was approved by council.
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But supporters and opponents are more divided than they were a few months ago and May 24, the day of the city hall debate, saw protests, media stunts and political grandstanding from both sides.
Opponents of the project filled Winnipeg City Hall’s plaza and railed against the proposed plant that some residents of the Transcona and St. Boniface neighbourhoods say will stink up the area.
Others protested the nature of the modern hog industry, which they say is cruel to animals and offers poor jobs to people.
Federal NDP MP Bill Blaikie spoke against the proposed plant during the protest, as did provincial Liberal leader Jon Gerrard.
“They will have to bring people in from elsewhere,” warned Blaikie, raising the issue of migrant workers.
“That’s what they’ve done in Brandon. That’s what they’ve done in Red Deer. That’s what they’ve done wherever they’ve had a plant.”
Signs threatened electoral action against mayor Sam Katz and other councillors if they continue to support the $200 million plant.
But while the protests went on outside, hundreds of OlyWest supporters, many employed by project partner Hytek Farms of La Broquerie, Man., made for the council chamber’s public galleries.
When the protest wound down and hundreds of opponents moved inside to watch the debate, they were forced to listen over a speaker and watch it through glass because all the seats in the public gallery were taken. A few opponents were allowed to enter the gallery and sit in the media area.
During the debate some opponents shook the metal bars that stood in front of the glass until they were asked to stop.
Many OlyWest supporters wore butchers’ aprons with the company name until the speaker asked that the aprons be removed.
The arguments for and against the project were similar to those in November, with a few differences.
Some councillors wondered if rescinding the incentive would leave the city open to legal challenges.
Other councillors suggested businesses opposed to the project have threatened to sue if the hog plant proceeds, so there could be trouble either way.
Winnipeg’s mayor, a majority of city council, the provincial NDP government, many businesses and a labour union support the planned plant.
In the end, after the motion to rescind the incentives was defeated, city councillor Russ Wyatt introduced a motion for a future city council meeting that will call for the hog plant to be moved away from his area of Transcona to the Tuxedo industrial park.
However, the city lacks the power to relocate the plant, as long as it conforms to zoning laws. The area near Transcona where the plant is intended to go allows heavy industrial use, so OlyWest does not require special permission from the city to build there.
The plant would need to use the city’s water treatment system, but the environmental approval is a provincial matter.
Following the battle at city hall, opponents and supporters peppered local media with advertisements and announcements through the rest of the week.
On May 30, supporters had scheduled the first open house about the proposed plant.
Tetrault, the hog plant supporter who offered his seat to an opponent, said he wasn’t bothered by the debate, but hoped that it could stay civil.
“I’m not against protest,” said Tetrault.
“You need people on both sides of an issue or the world would be a pretty strange place.”
