Manufacturing dissent

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This article was published 09/04/2024 (515 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A field near Birds Hill Provincial Park has become a battleground over a proposed pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.

Last week, residents near the site northeast of Winnipeg received notice of plans to build a factory for injectable emergency and non-emergency drugs. For some, it’s mere steps from their home.

They rallied. In less than a week, more than 1,100 people had signed a petition in opposition.

Meantime, Mittal Canada is asking locals to give it a shot.

“This is something we need in our Manitoba,” said Jacky Maan, a real estate agent and spokesman for Mittal Canada. “There’s nothing (like this) in Manitoba. We are lucky if we have something like this.”

The business seeks to make five types of injectable drugs at the rural site. However, nothing is final, Maan stated Tuesday, declining to give the types of pharmaceuticals Mittal Canada is considering.

The facility won’t manufacture any chemicals. Staff in the proposed Rural Municipality of St. Clements facility will use imported chemicals to create injectable drugs, which will be packaged on site before being shipped throughout North America, Maan said.

Mittal Canada is the parent company of three Manitoba businesses which conduct dental surgeries. It also has a British Columbia presence, Maan said, declining to identify the local companies.

This would be the corporation’s first step into manufacturing. It’s seeking 20 acres of land, though its initial site plans are much smaller; it’s mindful of future expansion, Maan said.

A parcel of land roughly four kilometres away from Birds Hill Provincial Park is ideal, Maan added. It’s close to Provincial Trunk Highway 59 and Winnipeg, and has the necessary space.

Mittal Canada is in talks with several municipalities — “Nothing is final yet,” Maan reiterated — but neither Winnipeg nor CentrePort Canada seem to have the space required, he said.

Twenty acres would allow for buffer room between the proposed plant and established houses, he added.

Mittal Canada advertises a $120-million investment into the site and the ability to create upwards of 1,000 jobs in the area.

Area residents, however, have a lot of questions — and simmering anger.

“Why is this all hush-hush, and then all of a sudden, ‘Oh, let’s spring this on you?’” said Roger Sherman, who has a lung condition and is worried about pollution.

The 64-year-old said he was shocked when a flyer outlining the potential development reached his mailbox. He had moved to Pineridge Village Mobile Home Park last year; it is his retirement spot.

The proposed facility had him wondering if he’d be kicked off his lot. Would there be smells associated with the factory? Will there be increased crime?

He’d gotten no real answers Tuesday, Sherman said. He couldn’t get into an April 4 community meeting on the issue; the building was full.

“If we would’ve known last August, we sure the hell would not have bought (the lot),” Sherman said, standing alongside his wife.

Neighbours echoed Sherman’s stance and his unanswered questions.

Jerry Drobot, a former St. Clements councillor, wondered about traffic. There aren’t traffic lights at Hwy. 59 and Dunning Road East, where Pineridge Village residents often cross.

Nicole Goossen, 30, began an online petition against the proposed facility. She wasn’t surprised to see it hit 1,110 signatures within a week — there’d been a “feeling as if we were out of control,” she said.

“They’re saying this is the pristine location, but I know other locations exist,” Goossen said, pointing to industrial space in Lockport and Deacon’s Corner. “It’s the wrong location.”

Air, water and noise pollution top her list of concerns — locals drink well water and Birds Hill Provincial Park is nearby.

“I just don’t understand how they cannot think about people and the wildlife.”

Some locals the Free Press spoke to, however, knew almost nothing about the proposed development.

Maan said he answered such questions at the April 4 community meeting; the company doesn’t “want to do anything under the table.”

Mittal Canada will create its own well and water treatment centre, unless the municipality’s lagoon has capacity and is offered. Wastewater will go into a holding tank and be reused, he said, adding the building would output “clean steam.”

Mittal Canada plans to build its own roads to its facility. Drug creation takes a long time, and to start, the company will be “lucky” to have one large truck per week packed with product, he said.

Maan likened the proposed site to a hospital lab, more than a manufacturing facility. Scientists, doctors, medical representatives and machine technicians would fill the space, he said.

The corporation will not touch the privately-owned Pineridge Villageand hours of operation would likely be a typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, Maan continued.

He doesn’t expect the plant to emit noticeable smells or noise. Mittal Canada won’t build housing on site, he added.

All the plans are preliminary — there are several government approvals to go through, and construction would likely take two years, Maan said.

Deepak Joshi, St. Clements chief administrative officer, declined to comment on the proposed facility.

A formal application hasn’t been submitted to council. Only after an application has been reviewed and assessed will the RM address queries, Joshi said.

Maan argued home values in the area would increase. Residents felt otherwise.

“We, as a community, would love to see jobs… and we’d be happy to drive to it,” Goossen said Tuesday morning. “It doesn’t have to come to our backyard.”

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com