80 workers face layoffs as Olymel closes pig farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan
About 80 workers at Olymel pig farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan are facing layoffs, as the company moves to cull six production facilities in the next few months.
“Due to the continued financial losses and uncertainty in the hog and pork markets for the foreseeable future, Olymel has made the difficult decision to reduce its hog production in Western Canada,” a news release from the company said.
Olymel plans to close five sow units in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan, located in Humboldt, bringing its western sow herd down from 57,000 to 40,000 animals.
The company said workers at the Humboldt facility may potentially be offered job placement within its western division, or assistance with “job placement outside the company.”
Olymel says the closure of these six farms will reduce the number of hogs bound for its Red Deer slaughter plant by approximately 200,000.
“However, the impact will not be felt until 2024 at the earliest,” the news release said.
The company says it has experienced significant losses in the last two years because of limited global market access and “stubbornly high” feed costs.
The barns will be closed until market conditions improve, Olymel says.
Olymel has already closed three other facilities in 2023, including two processing plants and one slaughtering facility in Quebec.
Over 1,000 workers received layoff notices in the closures, according to company news releases.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.