Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
Hay River (May 28/01) - Of all the Development Corporation's investments, the Hay River abattoir is the greatest source of puzzlement and dismay.
"It was a blunder," said W.R. 'Red' McBryan, a former director of the project that the corporation shut down in 1998, just 18 months after it opened.
Peter Boden, another director of 963904 NWT Ltd., the numbered company that owned the $2 million abattoir, described it as a "deluxe facility," capable of processing fish or fowl, game, cattle, and pigs.
For the Territorial Farmers Association, the abattoir was to be the centrepiece for an agriculture sector that they are still confident will develop around Hay River and Fort Smith.
As Boden and McBryan understood, the plan had the backing of former MLA and territorial finance minister John Todd and the corporation would backstop the abattoir for its first five years in operation, just as it had done for other subsidiaries.
There was not enough livestock in the territories for the abattoir, but animals were brought to Hay River from La Crete, a rich farming pocket in Alberta between High Level and Wood Buffalo National Park.
"Farmers there have more than enough animals and poultry to supply that abattoir until we developed our own sources here in the territory," said McBryan.
Farmer left hanging
Boden was one of the territorial farmers who saw it as an opportunity. He was in the middle of building a beef herd when the corporation pulled out of the abattoir.
"They left me hanging," said Boden.
McBryan said the decision to close the abattoir made no sense. It was supplying meat to territorial correctional facilities in Hay River and Yellowknife and was negotiating a contract to supply BHP.
It was also eating up subsidies at the rate of $20,000 a month, but McBryan said it had a reputation for "excellent products."
"We were just on the verge of success and they pulled the rug out on us. If they had stuck with the original plan, that abattoir could be operating today, with jobs to support a dozen families. It would not have needed a subsidy, like all their other investments."
There is no reference to the abattoir in any of the corporation's annual reports, but according to the corporate registry, the company was finally dissolved in March. The building that housed it was sold for less than $300,000 to the Hay River Dene Band which has re-opened it as a cash and carry store.
Fred Koe, president of the NWT Development Corp. said the abattoir project failed "because the government never developed an agriculture policy."
