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Industrial devolution As the industrial devolution continues in Hawkesbury, another vestige from a bygone era, Amoco Fabrics and Fibers, is biting the dust, literally. The demolition of the defunct carpet backing factory on Cameron Street marks the end of years of efforts by the town to find a buyer for the property. It also signals the end of the line for a huge facility that was at one time a producer of major economic benefits for the municipality and the region. Reflecting a continent-wide trend, Hawkesbury’s “industrial park” has gradually been losing its original industrial vocation. The section of the municipality that was once the reserve of manufacturers has been taken over by retailers and restaurants. The town is now banking on the “knock it down and they will come” concept to find a taker for the former Amoco property. For many, Amoco still rekindles memories of a long, hot and sometimes violent summer. In 1980, unionized workers at the plant staged a six-month strike which included several clashes between police officers and picketers. A community and families were divided. The conflict, the subject of a book, “Une communauté en colère,” came to a head on a frightening night in July when a riot broke out at the town hall. Understandably, the cli- mate was never quite the same after the union members returned to work that fall. Layoffs followed as the American-based corporation trimmed costs. The factory, which was built back in 1969, closed down in 1999. But the effects of the industry lingered. Before BP Amoco closed the factory, it had undertaken a program to recover and treat solvents that had contaminated the site. Since 1993, a control and monitoring system has been in place to handle the materials. In 2001, the corporation gave the site to the town, providing funds to continue to deal with and monitor the contamination. But taxpayers have also foot some of the bill. In 2009, the federal government provided $2 million toward the expenditure of $2.2 million to remove materials that had been buried on the land. In recent years, the site had generated significant amounts of money for the municipal- ity. However, in 2011, Bentley Leathers, which had at one time contributed over $1 million in rent per year, moved out when it opened its new distribution centre. Goldmanco Inc. , of Toronto, had announced in February 2008 that it wanted to establish a shopping centre on the Amoco land. But this project never became a reality, and since then, the large 358,000-square-foot building has become a liability. The pollution is no longer an impediment, stresses the Hawkesbury Community Industrial Strategic Planning Association, the body that administers the site. In a request for provincial funding earlier this year, the town related that the cost of contamination control “has become unsustainable at about $250,000 per year.” Still, the municipality said that contamination levels were within provincial norms and the clean-up of the pollution could be completed by 2015. But high building maintenance costs mean that the town is better off knocking down the empty building and trying to sell off the vacant land. Meanwhile, further to the west, the remnants of the former Duplate windshield factory, which was also recently demolished, are being cleaned up as a new private owner enter- tains ideas for this vast and vacant tract of land. At the same time, down on Main Street West, the former Canadian International Paper waste lagoon, remains. The Ontario gov- ernment, which owns the stinky riverfront pond, insists it will clean up the lagoon, even- tually. The cash-strapped province obviously is in no hurry to spend millions on moving around wastes that have been lingering for decades. If and when a clean-up is completed, the site will become a municipal park. Public green spaces are wonderful, but they don’t create jobs or generate tax revenues. On the other hand, the former Duplate and Amoco sites could, eventually, be transformed into financial assets. If this happens, there could be an up side to the industrial devolution of Hawkesbury.
The 14th annual Harvest Fall Festival at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dun- vegan Sunday again featured a wide range of activities and exhibits. Native culture was explained at one of the many kiosques. The Quigley Pipe Band led off the popu- lar horse and carriage procession.
Photos Richard Mahoney
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Bertrand Castonguay , President, bertrand@eap.on.ca Roger Duplantie , D.G. / G.M., roger@eap.on.ca François Bélair , Sales & Development, fbelair@eap.on.ca François Legault , Directeur de l’information/News Editor, francois.legault@eap.on.ca Yvan Joly , Sales director (Hawkesbury), yvan@eap.on.ca François Leblanc , Directeur (Lachute), francois.leblanc@eap.on.ca Gilles Normand , Production & Distribution Mgr., gilles.normand@eap.on.ca Julien Boisvenue , Layout & Prepress Mgr., julien.boisvenue@eap.on.ca
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