A co-operative project to bring dairy processing back to Quebec’s Outaouais region has marked its official opening with a pledge of a $150,000 federal loan.
The repayable funding for Laiterie de l’Outaouais at Gatineau will flow through the federal Community Diversification program, allowing the new business to buy needed and specialized production equipment, the government said in a release Wednesday.
The project is the work of a “small re-start committee” (Comite de relance de la Laiterie) that started exploring options after the December 2006 closure of la Laiterie Chateau, which had operated for 60 years and held 35 per cent of the market share in the region.
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The project’s shareholders include two separate co-operatives of employees and consumers respectively, the government noted.
The Chateau dairy’s closure had spurred local consumers who, with the support of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce and a number of local councils and businesses, organized to finance the project.
“While building on its ability to offer value-added and further processed products, Laiterie de l’Outaouais will continue manufacturing common dairy products,” area MP and federal Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a release.
“This new plant will strengthen the commercial potential of agri-food processing in the Outaouais region and boost employment in the regional manufacturing sector.”
The new $2.6 million, 13,500-square foot dairy project has already created 11 new jobs and is expected to create four other positions within a year, the government said.
The dairy is already supplying about 20 stores, mostly in and around Gatineau, including several IGA, Metro and Provigo markets.
The province had pledged $150,000 separately to the Outaouais dairy project in early 2008. Construction work didn’t begin at the site until August last year.
According to the relaunch committee’s website, the dairy’s capacity will allow it to process, pasteurize, package and distribute 10 million litres of milk, chocolate milk and cream annually.
