Tuesday, June 23, 2009

RIP Toronto Industrial Jobs - Cascades Commissioners St. Plant









It has been a about a year since the Cascades cardboard plant on Commissioners Street was closed. Gone are 150 or so jobs, and a huge local user of recycled cardboard and paper. It does not appear that Cascades is getting out of this business, since they are expanding in Quebec. It is highly unlikely that those 150 workers are moving to Quebec any time soon. The Toronto Star articles talk about union resistance to cost cutting but the city's constant talk about repurposing the whole area for things more genteel than a noisy paper plant probably didn't help. Nor likely did dwindling support for the local railway, and the near impossibility of getting trucks up and down the DVP in 24/7 rush hour. Talk about shutting down the Gardiner will likely scare off anybody else wanting to do any form of manufacturing or production in that area.

Funny how the plans for massive redevelopment for an Expo did not work out. And the parking lots at the film studio seem pretty empty most days.

RIP 150 jobs.
With research from Toronto Star web archives and manufacturing news website archives.

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