Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Wynne wastes more taxes

Premier Kathleen Wynne was in Cambridge Tuesday, handing $3 million from the Rural Economic Development Fund to PepsiCo for its Frito-Lay potato chip plant.

What a monumental waste of our tax dollars. You're dreaming in technicolor if you think PepsiCo would not invest to modernize the plant if it didn't get the government welfare cheque.

PepsiCo is spending $12 million to modernize the plant that accounts for about 40 per cent of its Canadian sales of Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetos and Ruffles snacks. It also exports some to the United States.

Company officials said the modernization will secure the Cambridge plant’s position in PepsiCo’s North American operations.

Within the last year, Kellogg’s, Heinz ketchup and Premium Brands have closed plants in Ontario and moved production to other places.


The company says the modernization will improve ergonomics for the 500 employees and will include high-speed packaging equipment.

It also says it buys about $95 million worth of raw materials per year from Ontario farmers.