Sunnymel hiring 250

A day after Maple Lodge said it’s laying off a quarter of its Nadeau Poultry Ltd. employees in New Brunswick, there is a news report that rival Sunnymel will hire 250 for its new plant. Sunnymel’s plant, which is under construction now, is slated to begin processing chickens next fall, eventually reaching capacity of 450,000 birds a week. Sunnymel is a joint venture of Groupe Westco Inc. and Olymel of Quebec. Westco has lured most of the chicken producers in New Brunswick into its fold and that has left Nadeau without supplies. Nadeau has pleaded with the New Brunswick government to order the chicken producers to supply its plant, but the politicians are refusing to intervene in what they describe as business competition. Meanwhile, Maple Lodge has a joint venture with Nova Scotia chicken producers and is building a new plant there. While it’s awaiting completion, Nova Scotia birds are processed at the Nadeau plant. And while the partners await completion of the Sunnymel plant, Westco chickens are being slaughtered in Olymel plants in Quebec. This is far from the only long-distance chicken hauling because of competition for processing-plant supplies. Birds are being trucked to and from Quebec from the Niagara Peninsula area. Marketing boards in the two provinces have a deal to stop that inter-provincial flow of chickens, but they have not yet gained provincial government approvals to implement their deal. .