“This is a difficult day for the town but we're going to do anything in our power to find a new tenant for that site and keep jobs here,” says Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White.
Last month, CCL in Penetanguishene announced it was closing, putting 170 people out of work. Yachiyo in Barrie will shed 35 jobs in mid-2015, and further south in Leamington the town's biggest employer, Heinz, recently announced it will be closing its plant, putting 740 people out of work.
“Any time a business makes a decision they are based on revenue and cost,” says Georgian College business professor Norm Smith. He says those jobs are never coming back.
“These are classic business decisions that we see happening. The high dollar is hurting us, the fuel costs hurt us, and these are factors that are outside businesses control.”
But there is some good news: a growing demand for highly skilled workers to make high quality products. Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman says Ontario manufacturing is dying, and it's changing.
“We're finding companies that are producing products of higher quality than can be made in other parts of the world - Canada is known for its quality – or we have techniques that are more cost effective,” Lehman says.
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