Anger after Ontario food plant says it will shut down by early 2025 with 170 jobs lost

A Maple Leaf Foods plant in Brantford, Ontario, will close by early 2025, taking 170 jobs with it — and needless to say, people are pissed off.

Maple Leaf announced on Wednesday that it would shutter the century-old chicken processing facility due to the costs associated with modernization, and will instead relocate operations to other facilities in the province before closing the plant by early next year.

Maple Leaf's President and CEO Curtis Frank said in a statement that "the decision to close any plant is one that we take very seriously."

Maple Leaf Foods to close its Brantford site by early 2025. The plant was over 100 years old. It's all coming down.

— Remington (@Remington174546) May 23, 2024

Frank added that the company is "very proud of our team at Brantford and appreciates[s] the great work they do each and every day," which probably doesn't mean a heck of a lot to the plant's 170 employees who are now uncertain about their futures.

“This supports our vision to be the most sustainable protein company on Earth and our commitment to produce world-class products safely and efficiently as we support the growth of our protein business.”

Are they using ChatGPT to write the speeches for their CEO?

— José Custódio de Faria (@Abade_Faria) May 23, 2024

Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis was among those critical of the move to close the facility, quoted as saying, "I was very disappointed to learn today that one of our city's longstanding food plants will be relocating its operations to more modern facilities in Ontario."

It's unfortunate. It's part of the constant evolution of our food supply chain. I feel for the employees.

— Clayton Kotylak (@KotylakClayton) May 23, 2024

Davis voiced concern about the potential "significant impact this will have on our community, particularly for the employees and their families."

Wow .... blow to that area

— SL 🍎 (@SL41704209) May 23, 2024

While it remains one of the major players in the Canadian meat industry, Maple Leaf has never quite recovered its reputation after a 2008 Listeria outbreak traced to its products killed 23 people.