By Cheryl Jahn

Cattlemen Support PG Packing Plant

Jun 4, 2018 | 4:12 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Local cattlemen are in support of a beef processing plant in BC, something that has been talked about for years. But, most recently, the provincial government committed up to $450,000 to look at the idea again. 

“We have the livestock in BC to support a packing plant of a major size. Do we have the feedlots here that are feeding those cattle at this point in time? No, we don’t,” says Tom de Waal, a local producer and member of the BC Cattlemen’s Association. “And that’s strictly because of the fact that we don’t have a facility to slaughter these cattle.”

He says, in fact, there are as many as 70,000 head of cattle just to the west, not taking into consideration the Peace Country or the Cariboo-Chilcotin regions. Prince George also has a centralized location and access to transportation routes, things de Waal says are critical.

All cattle from BC are currently slaughtered in Washington State or Alberta.

But while it would be a winning concept for cattle producers, it would be a bigger win for local job creation.

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“A slaughter facility of any magnitude would employ a couple hundred people. And that’s a couple hundred people with good paying jobs.,” says de Waal. “You’re going to get the trucking firms that would deliver the finished product, the retailers in this area that would sell the finished product.”

If built, the facility would be the largest federally-inspected processing plant in BC.