Canada Bread breaks ground on new bakery

June 24, 2010, TORONTO – Canada Bread Co. Ltd. broke ground Wednesday on its new 375,000-square-foot bakery located in the Red Hill Business Park in Hamilton, Ont.

June 24, 2010, TORONTO – Canada
Bread Co. Ltd. broke ground Wednesday on its new 375,000-square-foot
bakery located in the Red Hill Business Park in Hamilton, Ont. Canada
Bread executives, along with government and civic officials,
participated in the morning groundbreaking ceremony at the site to mark
the official beginning of construction.

"Today marks a major step forward with our $100 million investment in building a world-class facility that will be Canada's largest bakery and also support our sustained growth," said Canada Bread president Barry McLean.

"We are very pleased to have selected Hamilton as the location where we will grow. Not only is the city a great partner, it offers a skilled workforce, excellent infrastructure, and ready access to our markets."

The design of the new facility will integrate modern equipment and best-in-class technologies. In addition to being the largest bakery in Canada, the new facility will be the most efficient, and among the leading bakeries in North America at producing high-quality products at low cost.

"Hamilton is now home to Canada's largest bread maker," said Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger. "This welcome investment by Canada Bread is more proof that Hamilton's economic strategy of helping to create jobs in our community by diversifying our local economy is working."

An estimated 110-120 construction jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of the project, which is expected to take approximately 12 months with the first production lines being commissioned by July 2011 and remaining lines phased in over the next 18 months.

The project is being led by FirstGulf Corporation of Toronto.
Canada Bread Co. Ltd., which is 89.8 per cent owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc., is a leading manufacturer and distributor of fresh bakery products, frozen par-baked products and fresh pasta and sauces. The company had 2009 sales of $1.7 billion and employs approximately 8,000 people at its operations across North America and in the United Kingdom.