600 new jobs coming to McNab/Braeside

MCNAB/BRAESIDE, ONT. -

It's a boost to the local economy in the Ottawa Valley. On Friday, it was announced that up to 600 new jobs would be coming to the township of McNab/Braeside.

Six manufacturing businesses from Germany are opening new plants in the region and will produce items such as walls, windows, and doors for the construction of agricultural buildings. McNab/Braeside Mayor Tom Peckett told CTV News Ottawa after the announcement that he was so excited that he could dance.

"Having the ability to put up six industries within the township and bring that many jobs to the area, I’m just ecstatic," said Peckett, who was also joined at the announcement by Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark.

"This project we’re talking about will bring up to 600 jobs to the community," exclaimed Clark. "That is a huge number that will have a major impact on the local economy."

The six German companies that will be coming to the region include Romakowski, Wolf, Fliegl, Fech Fenstertechnik, TLT Structures, and Liebherr Canada Ltd.

Peckett says he expects shovels to be in the ground for construction by next spring or early summer, and hopes the workplaces will be ready to take on workers by 2023.

"As soon as that industry in Germany showed interest and committed to coming to McNab/Braeside, it started just one after another," says Peckett. "I was getting calls every other day that another company wants to come, another company wants to come."

And the news of manufacturing jobs coming back to the region is welcomed by many locals who have seen similar jobs leave the area in years gone by.

"I think we could all use the jobs, and I think we’ve been waiting a long time to get poor little Renfrew County noticed," says Corrie Horsfield, a vendor at a local market in Burnstown. She says her family remembers the times when the manufacturing sector was prominent in the county.

"My husband, he remembers that time. The Playtex bra, I believe, was manufactured here."

"The MDS plant shut down, but it’s now open again, and things are looking up again so that’s good," adds her neighbouring vendor Tammy Stewart.

Mayor Peckett says opportunities like this will be able to attract those looking for work from across Renfrew County, Lanark County, and Ottawa. For Horsfield, a wave of new business into the area is something she’s happy about.

"It would be welcomed by me, would be welcomed by a lot of people I know too."