A significant provincial investment will allow a Brighton manufacturer of home and garden products to add new product lines and ultimately new jobs at its Brighton and St. Isidore, Ontario sites.
Provincial government officials — including Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and David Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South — gathered at Premier Tech Home and Garden on Loyalist Drive in Brighton on Wednesday morning for the announcement of a $2.8-million investment in the Brighton manufacturer through the Eastern Ontario Regional Development Fund. The funding program is designed to strengthen manufacturing, create jobs and boost economic recovery in Eastern Ontario.
The government is supporting Premier Tech’s $18-million investment that is expected to bring 52 new jobs to the company’s Brighton facility and its St. Isidore site in Prescott and Russell County in Eastern Ontario.
Fedeli noted the provincial funding will allow Premier Tech to manufacture products at its Brighton plant that weren’t being made there previously. These include the making of environmentally friendly aerosol products at the Brighton facility that the company had previously sub-contracted.
“As you saw through the facility they are now manufacturing these products here that they were not previously making in Brighton, so those are exciting products that are now being made here in Ontario,” said Fedeli.
Richard Harrison, Premier Tech’s vice-president of administration and finance, said the company will be investing $47 million in its Ontario operations in the next five years including implementation of new equipment and automation in the upcoming months.
“In Brighton we will invest to automate and to add new equipment to serve the Canadian home gardening market. We will invest as well in St. Isidore where we will add lines to increase the capacity of the growing media soil (soils, mixes, compost and ground covers) that we’re selling over there,” said Harrison.
Piccini noted that the government’s return on its investment in Premier Tech’s expansion and upgrading plans will pay off in new jobs coming to Brighton.
“A lot of people want to know their tax dollars are at work and benefitting them. And, make no mistake, we have a choice, we can either do nothing, and we can sit back, which is what was done in the past and watch manufacturing and jobs flee our community, Kraft (formerly in Cobourg) employees know that well, or you can invest and work with industry. And, I don’t know about that sort of return on investment for folks at home, but that’s a good return on investment for the tax dollars at work right here in Brighton. It’s creating jobs — 52 men and women will join the lines with the 30,000 men and women who woke up this morning with a new manufacturing job,” said Piccini.
“This is exciting for our community, it’s growing and we’re making things. We’re not competing with PEI, we’re competing with Ohio, Michigan, we’re competing with New York State and California and we’re winning. We’re attracting these investments and we’re making things again in our province.”
Jake DeGroot, operations director at Premier Tech’s Brighton site, said the announcement marks an exciting time for the company, which will enable it to continue its growth with the new investment by the provincial government.
“We’re excited to have everybody here today to see what we’re doing, where we’re going what our path is taking. In Brighton we need this and it’s very exciting; we’re looking forward to it. Premier Tech has a vision and it’s sustainable green products for the marketplace and we want to be a part of that.”
Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander extended his thanks for the investment, which will bring more jobs to Brighton.
“I say it as often as I can and I say it to the Premier Tech team here today, we’re grateful to the investment in Brighton, we’re grateful for the jobs it creates and the anchor in the industrial park that shows what we can do right here in Brighton,” said Ostrander.