Members of Essex County council offered Leamington their support during the first meeting since Heinz made the announcement it will be closing its processing plant in the town.
Leamington mayor John Paterson is scheduled to travel to Toronto on Friday for an important meeting with Heinz executives.
"I look forward to your help in the near future as well, to see where we can take this situation and turn it right side up," says Paterson.
Paterson says the meeting with Heinz executives from Pittsburgh is still tentative, but he's hoping it will happen. The mayor says he hopes to find out what H.J. Heinz plans to do with the plant once closed, and says there has already been a lot of interest expressed in the facility.
“Maybe there's an investor out there that they will work with to do co-packing. Who knows?”
Paterson says he would not be surprised if the company refused to sell the plant to another food processor, but he says any kind of large manufacturing firm could use the space.
