McCain gets $24,000 loan for retraining

The P.E.I. government approved a loan of more than $24,000 for McCain Foods Ltd., says the Minister of Innovation.

The money was used to retrain 65 of the frozen food and potato processing giant's workers during a shutdown at the Borden-Carleton plant over the holidays, said Allan Campbell.

"That training includes a number of different aspects within their facility and we're pleased to be able to help them out," he said.

'When you can train employees within an operation to be innovative and creative, I think it can only help to sustain the viability of any company.' —Innovation Minister Allan Campbell

"When you can train employees within an operation to be innovative and creative, I think it can only help to sustain the viability of any company."

The McCain plant was closed from Dec. 23 to Jan. 4 due to a slowdown caused by a downturn in the economy.

The training money meant the employees didn't have to apply for employment insurance.

McCain's loan is much less than a $600,000 loan given to Cavendish Farms for similar retraining.

The province says it uses a standard formula per employee, and Cavendish has a much larger staff.

Other Island companies have made similar requests for training funding and Campbell said he expects there will be more coming.