Lots of fun in Smiths Falls: Tweed in the old Hershey plant

I think it is great to have something going into this huge, empty facility.

• 40 acres with the huge sewage treatment plant and 500,000 square feet of building

Smiths Falls has been in the

news a lot with drugs, theft, murder (see below), despite it being a beautiful tourist town with the Heritage House museum, Train Museum, Rideau Canal Museum, the 2014 Dominion Tankard. I think it ironic (typical) that the CBC journalist managed to find the four kids in Smith Falls who do not smoke dope, commenting negatively on Tweed's business plan. I think this is a great idea.

I must say I am in favour of Tweed for two reasons.

Marijuana a good drug for some patients

 I've had several clients, on ODSP, facing horrible neuropathic pain. The hydromorphone they are prescribed does not work on this kind of pain. This is what we were told at the Pain Clinic. Most GPs do not seem to know this information. Those in poverty cannot afford Cesamet, the THC pill. THC is the chemical in weed that works for this type of pain. There are many other people who swear by this drug. People with pain from phantom limbs, MS, people undergoing cancer treatment, diabetes, shingles, spine surgery (read more about neuropathic pain here).

There are physicians who are against prescribing weed: they don't know how much to prescribe, and want to be able to control the dosage, with a 3 x's a day type of plan. Really, it is the kind of drug that users can determine when and how much. For those with chronic pain, we know how much they suffer. Morphine use causes many symptoms (e.g., constipation) and can induce tolerance and become innefective. OPP and local police are now trained in identifying those who toke and drive, which would be a concern for many citizens. Physicians must step up.

Unemployment in Smiths Falls, small towns in Ontario is terrible

Nothing good comes from a community in which 40% of the workforce is unemployed.
The factory not only employed 750 workers, but processed gallons of milk from area farmers. Visitors were in the six digit range, all buying souvenirs to take home, contributing to the economy. I know, I had a fabulous mug from that shop, long gone as I broke it.

The problem with the building is that it is so large. Tween only takes up one third of the space.They are looking for other occupants, like a milk processing plant. The equipment is still there.

Keeping people employed is a good thing. In an area rich in excellent farms and farmers, there has always been some work, especially in tourism, but the Hershey factory was an amazing place. We used to take our gr. 6 students during our June field trip days. The kids loved it. We'd haul back to school a ton of yummy chocolate.

Big business gets too much of our tax dollars: Canadian Automotive industry bailout. I think for bang-for-the-buck, introducing small businesses, like the $1 million grant for St. Albert's cheese factory, is just good use of taxpayer dollars. They will employ 110 people in Cornwall at St. Albert's. When people work, are gainfully employed, they produce excellent products, and the economic, social and mental impact is fabulous on a region.

drugs, guns, money

The Current has covered this story

The town of Smiths Falls had a puzzle: what to do when a huge employer - a chocolate factory - left for Mexico. Our Project Money tracks the transition at 1 Hershey Drive from a place where the scent of chocolate once wafted through the town to one where a medicinal marijuana operation is considered an economic cure.
Over the next year (2008), Smiths Falls lost five other big employers.   

Farmers want to produce milk alongside marijuana at old Hershey plant

WWW.CBC.CA

Owners of a medical marijuana grow-op, now well-established in a former chocolate factory in Smiths Falls, Ont., hope to spur on further economic development in the small town.

Smiths Falls, Ontario, is a case in point. Chuck Hudson, Community Development Officer, told me that these job losses are caused mainly by the loss of three major employers. Hershey being just one.

Demographics of Smiths Falls

Population (2011) 8978 people
English-speaking only = 93%

Median Household Income in 2005 - All census Families: $54,021 (2006)

Median after-tax Household Income in 2005 - All Families: $47,201

Median Monthly payments for rented dwellings: $644 (2006)

The Hershey factory moved production to Mexico in 2008, where cheaper labour will help them make money. Ontarians should be more interested in providing fair wages for work and support local workers who have forged a good life in a small town. We should demand Fair Trade for Canadians. No handouts, but business loans and Transfer Payment Agencies to help workers manage their towns.

Smiths Falls in the bad news category

• 

  Drugs, knife, money

  Man faces charges after theft from hospital caught on video
• Smiths Falls woman faces charges after history of abuse uncovered
• Smiths Falls man faces child pornography charges for second time in less than two years
• Smiths Falls youth facing sexual charges
• Local connection to Saunders murder suspect
• Smiths Falls Crime Stoppers looks for your help to solve two crimes
• Rideau Regional Centre settlement approved by Ontario Superior Court – horrible stories of abuse in institutional care
• Smiths Falls men fined $3,900 for hunting offences
• Next court date set for Smiths Falls murder suspect: (Clayton George Presley, 56, was charged with second-degree murder at the beginning of December, 2013.)

Smiths Falls in 2008 

Some of the highlights of the Economic Development Office that were discussed were: 
- The Economic Development Plan.
- Their Highest Priority is the reuse of Hershey Plant and the reuse of Rideau Regional Centre
Property.
- The office regularly addresses new inquiries for any type of business in Smiths Falls.
- The office continues to act with the Sector Initiatives with the Ontario East Economic
Development Commission.
- Community Development Office represents the Town for all Tourism initiatives. Leading and
assisting with other projects.
- Physician Recruitment
- Hershey and Rideau Regional Centre studies and will be taking a lead role in the Regional
Economic Development Study
- New resident program
- Projects with the Ministry of Economic and Development Trade.
- New Immigrant Portal Program which will help us attract new immigrants who want to relocate to  our area.
- The Community Development Office is working to attract new housing developments to Smiths
Falls. A New brochure has been developed. They are in process of launching an advertising
program to attract new residents to relocate to Smiths Falls.
- The successful Doors Open Smiths Falls was organized by the Community Development Office
and the Community Services office.

Sweet deal!

Cadbury accepts improved offer from Kraft

British confectionery group Cadbury has caved in to an improved takeover offer from US rival 
Kraft Foods, valuing Cadbury at 13.1 billion euros ($18.9 billion).

Cadbury, founded in1824, is the 2nd largest confectionary maker, after Mars-Wrigley.
The Kraft Company is taking over Cadbury's in the UK, read about it here  Kraft is the world's second-biggest snacks group after Swiss-based Nestle.
This amount of money confounds me!
But some history:

• John Cadbury, a Quaker, opened a shop in Birmingham in 1824, selling tea, coffee and hot chocolate - as an alternative to alcohol
• Merged with rival confectioner J.S. Fry & Sons in 1919
• Merged with Schweppes drinks business in 1969.
• Employs about 45,000 people in 60 countries

KRAFT FOODS

• Founded in Illinois as a cheese wholesaler in 1903
• Bought in 1988 by Philip Morris, which also purchased Nabisco for $19.2bn in 2000 before integrating it into Kraft Foods
• More than 40 of its brands are more than 100 years old
• Has 98,000 employees and 168 manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide.

Canadian Automotive industry bailout

The headlines are scary.

An industry on the brink

TheStar.com | Canada | Ottawa pledges billions to avert auto meltdown

Ottawa pledges billions to avert auto meltdown

While I have blogged about this before (Automotive Bailout), I am still shocked. We need to put money into retooling, retraining, and creating viable industry that uses Canadian workers to produce goods and services that will maintain a standard of living. It is time to stop outsourcing and exploiting workers in other countries. Give the money to the workers who can form a collective and produce clean, toxin-free, reliable, environmentally safe products. I resent throwing good money after bad. We need to rethink and reinvent our economy based on the current situation.

If or when the bailout fails, so will the other industries, secondary and tertiary goods and services that support the industry and their workers.

We must invest in those who are interested in retraining. Poverty and ignorance can be ameliorated with supports in place to educate those in saving money and finding retraining and/or alternate work. A Toronto Star article, "The death and life of small Ontario towns", asks the question, "Do these places have a right to exist?" How nuts is that? They were created to help manufacturers pay small town wages and save the big bucks. Now, outsourcing is doing the same thing by moving to overseas sources of cheap labour. We need to reverse this, let the employees take a loan from the $billions destined for the automotive industry, and provide a thriving industry to small town Canadians. The town can create a board to manage plants, like the former Hershey factory. Surely, somebody can create solutions that will be long lasting and find a vision of this new millennium.

Smiths Falls, Ontario, is a case in point. Chuck Hudson, Community Development Officer, tells me that these job losses are caused mainly by the loss of three major employers, one of them being Hershey (the others are a provincial institution and Stanley Mechanics Tools factory).

The Hershey factory is moving production to Mexico where cheaper labour will help them make money. Ontarians should be more interested in providing fair wages for work and support local workers who have forged a good life in a small town. One comment on the above article says, as I do, that we should demand Fair Trade for Canadians. No handouts, but business loans and Transfer Payment Agencies to help workers manage their towns.