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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 7, 2013
Volume 29 No. 6
MEDAL - Pg. 13Neil Vincent receivesprestigious honour CLOSURE - Pg. 20 Employees react to MDLDoors closure newsFINANCIAL- Pg. 6‘The Citizen’ provides itsannual financial guidePublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Challenge, change faces pork farmers
MDL Doors announces closure after fire
Devastation
The Brussels community is now out over 110 jobs after fire tore through the MDL Doors offices and plant late last month. After
careful consideration, the company’s owners, the Lichty family, have decided not to rebuild the business, effectively closing and
putting their former employees out of work. Several factors were taken into account according to employees, including the time
it would take to rebuild the business as well as the ever-fragile North American economy. Above is a picture of the destruction
of the Jan. 23 fire taken from a Huron East Fire Department aerial truck. The picture was provided to Huron East Council at its
Tuesday night meeting by Huron East Fire Chief Marty Bedard, along with a comprehensive report on the goings-on of that day,
which can be read in its entirety on page 12. (Photo submitted)
After a fire devastated MDL
Doors manufacturing plant and
warehouse two weeks ago, the
company has decided to not rebuild.
A week after the fire, in the
gymnasium of the Brussels Business
and Cultural Centre, employees of
the company were told that the
business would be closing and that
they would be unemployed.
“We looked at every economical
study, looked at every opportunity
and we couldn’t find a way that
feasibly made sense to rebuild the
factory,” Human Resources
Manager Trevor Seip said in an
interview with The Citizen last
week. “Employees were effectively
terminated and the business will
close.”
The response, during the meeting,
was a quiet one according to Seip.
“The response was fairly quiet,
everyone was probably still
shocked,” he said. “This affects all
of us. I’m no different than the
person that was painting a door a
week ago. At some point or another,
we’ll all be out of a job.”
Seip said that the decision will
likely have a lasting effect on
everyone.
“It’s still an open wound,” he said.
“Some of these people don’t know
anything other than the plant. We
haven’t had time to heal yet and it’s
going to take some time.”
Mervin Lichty, the founder of
MDL doors, and his family were
also affected by the decision,
according to Seip.
“It was a very emotional day for
everyone,” Seip said. “The decision
affected everyone’s lives, including
the Lichtys. Whether the decision
was right, wrong or indifferent, it’s
been made.”
In a later press release from the
company, Lichty said that the time
since the fire has been difficult for
everyone involved and that the
decision to not rebuild was a
difficult one.
“This has been a difficult time for
me, my family and our employees,”
he said. “So much hard work and
commitment has been destroyed. If I
were a younger man, I would re-
build but at this stage in life I’ve
Just like pork producers, Ontario’s
small meat processors face change
and challenge, those attending the
Jan. 30 annual meeting of the Huron
County Pork Producers’ Association
were told.
Laurie Nicol, executive director
of the Ontario Independent Meat
Processors (OIMP) association said
that despite the closing of several
abattoirs in the past few years, there
are still 200 members of her
organization involved in meat
processing from abattoirs to further
processors to butcher shops. Of her
membership, 84 per cent have 20 or
fewer employees.
Nicol pointed to Hensall’s
Metzger Meat Products as an
example of change after the award-
winning company recently decided
to close its custom abattoir to
concentrate on further processing.
This reduced the options for local
farmers seeking custom killing.
Still, she said, 2012 saw 40 new
licenced plants in Ontario – five
abattoirs and 35 processors.
But a challenge for these plants is
finding labourers, particularly for
abattoirs. OIMP members expect 10
per cent of their workers to retired
by 2015. There are no training
programs for meat workers. Nicol
said her association is working with
colleges to try to put training in
place.
For some OIMP members the
ever-escalating minimum wage level
in Ontario is an additional challenge.
Market access for small
processors is also an issue, Nicol
said. Provincially-licensed abattoirs
used to sell to provincial agencies
and some Ontario retailers, but many
of these buyers now have a
requirement that they can buy only
from federally-inspected plants.
OIMP is trying to work with the
broader public sector to get access to
provincial institutions.
Changing customer preferences
are also affecting some processors.
Where once people bought a half or
quarter of a steer or pig for their
freezer, today consumers are buying
only for a day or two at a time.
Customers also want only the most
preferred cuts, leaving a surplus of
the less desirable meat.
Abattoirs used to offset their costs
through the sale of hides, fat and
other byproducts but they’ve been
losing that market.
The increasing regulatory burden
is also weighing heavily on many
members, Nichol said. OIMP sits on
the province’s Open for Business
forum but with the current uncertain
political climate, it’s hard to get
changes accomplished.
Consumers expect the same level
Ontario’s newest holiday is fast
approaching and the staff of The
Citizen will be taking this
opportunity to spend time with their
family and friends.
Family Day is scheduled for
Monday, Feb. 18, meaning that
deadlines for the Feb. 21 edition of
The Citizen will be moved.
The deadline for the Feb. 21
newspaper will be Friday, Feb. 15 at
2 p.m. in Brussels and at 4 p.m. in
Blyth.
The Citizen wishes all of its
readers a safe and happy Family
Day.
‘Citizen’ to close
for Family Day
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Continued on page 23
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 12