STEINBACH, MAN. THE CARILLON n C7
www.thecarillon.com n
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2025
TIM SMITH BRANDON SUN
The Canada Packers plant on Richmond Avenue East.
Packers aims to ‘unleash pork business’
ed growth, nothing changes for the Brandon plant or its processes, Organ said. Canada Packers had been operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Maple Leaf Foods since July, and had been operating as a divi- sion of Maple Leaf Foods before that. The Can- ada Packers brand dates back to 1927. The creation of the spinoff was passed in June with 99.94 per cent approval from all Ma- ple Leaf Foods shareholders and 99.88 per cent support from public shareholders, excluding holdings by the McCain family. Organ said the split from Maple Leaf Foods was due to economics and being able to focus specifically on the pork business. He said that includes a focus on the Brandon plant. “Now that we’re unleashed, we can focus on things like growing Brandon and just pork-spe- cific initiatives,” Organ said. “It would have been a little bit more difficult under the old arrangement, but it’s primary fo- cus right now.” Canada Packers currently has three plants in operation — in Brandon, Landmark and Leth- bridge, Alta. It also has an idle plant in Winni- peg. The headquarters is in Mississauga, Ont. The change also means that Canada Packers will begin operating on the Toronto Stock Ex- change starting today as “CPKR.” Maple Leaf Foods continues to hold a 16 per cent ownership interest in Canada Packers, and will continue to work side by side in the prepared meats business, the company said in a press release. The Sun reached out to Maple Leaf Foods, but didn’t hear back on Wednesday. In July, the Sun reported that the new Maple Leaf Foods Sports Complex in northeast Bran- don would keep its name. Organ said to “stay tuned” on whether that is still the case, as Ma- ple Leaf Foods no longer has a presence in the Wheat City. - Brandon Sun
by ALEX LAMBERT M aple Leaf Foods has finalized its spinoff of Canada Packers Inc., mak- ing its pork plants in Manitoba and Alberta a separate company. As of Wednesday, the pork processing plant in Brandon became part of Canada Packers. “It’s been a while to get here, but I feel great, and especially from the Brandon perspec- tive,” president and CEO Dennis Organ said Wednesday. “One of the things that we’re talking about is unleashing the pork business.” The corporate split will allow the 6355 Rich- mond Ave. East plant to grow in production and create more jobs, Organ said. “We’re going to grow,” he said. “That’s what it really means, is we have a growth strategy. We think we can grow our top line processing vol- ume numbers.” The company’s flagship plant in Brandon has already seen an increase in staff numbers during the past year, he said, but this will en- hance that growth. In July, the former Maple Leaf Foods plant received $1,095,000 in funding from the pro- vincial government to upgrade the plant’s split saws, which cut pig carcasses. The addition was to improve speed and efficiency and limit waste. At the time, the plant processed 16,000 pigs a day. It currently employs about 2,200 staff, ac- cording to the Canada Packers website. “By doing more volume, we’ll be adding more jobs,” Organ said. “We’re making plans to build for the next 100 years. So, Brandon will remain — we’re work- ing to build the hog infrastructure and the sur- rounding farms in Manitoba to also support that growth.” Aside from the name change and expect-
SUPPLIED
Dennis Organ.
Relationships matter
of CUSMA. When are the Canadian consultations going to begin? The best time to start the development of a strategic pan-Canadian agricul- tural position on the key elements of the CUSMA would have been about 18 months ago. The second-best time to start this dialogue with the agriculture community is today. If this does not occur, Canada runs the risk that we will go into the critical part of the CUSMA review with both industry and governments divided. That could be a mistake that has far reaching consequences for farmers from coast to coast. For agriculture, the overall goal go- ing into the CUSMA review must be the preservation and expansion of the integrated North American mar- ket for both agricultural commodi- ties and food. For the betterment of farmers, processors and consumers, we must actively target the elimina- tion of tariff and non-tariff trade bar- riers including, regulatory misalign- ment between Canada and the U.S., increased use of restrictive country of origin labelling requirements, and individual state regulations that re- strict trade within North America. Our strategic discussions with our CUSMA partners should also rec- ognize that, in an increasingly less stable international trading envi- ronment, secure trade within North America of agriculture commodities and food contributes to the national security of all three CUSMA signato- ries and helps deliver a reliable and safe food supply for North American consumers. Cam Dahl is the general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council.
tionships are built. Relationships are built by showing up at state fairs as friends and neighbours. Canadians cannot afford to have potential al- lies in the U.S. and Mexico turned off by aggressive commentary coming from north of the 49th parallel. We need partnership not rhetoric. For Canadian agriculture, this out- reach should be the top priority for the industry, especially for the 90 percent of Canadian farmers who depend on international markets for their price discovery and sales. While we must look to diversify our markets, we cannot replace the U.S. as a destination. For example, Man- itoba ships over 3 million live pigs to be finished in the U.S. every year. Today these exports are moving un- der the protection of CUSMA. If we were to lose that protection or have the integration between producers in the U.S. and Canada weakened, these animals would have no alter- native markets and communities across our province would feel the economic impact. Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial agriculture ministers met in Winnipeg the second week of Sep- tember. I am hopeful that they dis- cussed the development of a strate- gic outreach plan with our partners in the U.S. Not every minister needs to visit every state capitol in the lower 48 states, but we should have a plan in place to have at least one agricultural delegation reach out to most of them before the 45-day comment period on the effective- ness of CUSMA expires. Which brings me to my closing ob- servation. The U.S. has started pub- lic consultations on the effectiveness
by CAM DAHL O n Sept. 17, the Office of the United States Trade Repre- sentative (USTR) began a 45- day public comment period on the effectiveness and impact of the Can- ada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUS- MA), and public hearings on CUSMA will be held in the U.S. this Novem- ber. The process to review Canada’s most important trade agreement has begun. Our relationships with our part- ners, customers, and suppliers in the U.S. matter now more than ever. Re- cently, Manitoba Pork was on a mis- sion to Iowa with Manitoba’s Minis- ter of Agriculture, Ron Kostyshyn. It was an opportunity to talk to Iowa’s farm leaders and politicians about the value of our integrated mar- ket and the trade between us. We could not have received a warmer welcome. There is a strong under- standing south of the border about the value of our trading relation- ship. The USTR and U.S. Congress will likely not give a lot of weight to comments from the Canadian pork sector, Canadian agriculture in gen- eral, or even our federal and provin- cial governments, but they will listen to the Governor of Iowa and elected representatives of Iowa’s agriculture base. While it might look good on social media or on television for a Canadi- an politician, in a fit of pique, to pour out whiskey distilled in Manitoba over a disagreement with a multi-na- tional company, or to threaten to turn off the lights in American states, this is not how strong positive rela-
Cam Dahl.
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