June 22, 2010
Canada's Groupe Westco all set for new chicken processing facility
Quebec-based Groupe Westco announced Monday (June 21) its plans to build a chicken processing facility near Edmundston in Canada.
Groupe Westco Inc. said the company has bought the land and cleared a site for the facility, a move Nadeau Poultry Farms Ltd. fears will drive it out of business.
Westco and Nadeau have been at odds for years, with their dispute ending up before provincial government officials, the federal competition tribunal and the Court of Queen's Bench.
Last week, the court ruled that chickens can be slaughtered and processed outside the province.
Central to the fight is a shortage of live chickens. Maple Lodge Holdings Corp.-owned Nadeau has not been able to buy enough birds ever since Westco started shipping their birds to Quebec for processing.
The plant slaughters the chickens and produces the myriad of finished product consumers find in their grocery store.
John Feenstra, a consultant with Nadeau, said if Westco builds a slaughter and processing plant in Clair, the Saint-François-de-Madawaska plant will close and 365 workers will be left unemployed.
