Rural Economic Development (RED) Program
News Release

For Immediate Release September 7, 2007

McGuinty Government Invests in Animal Health and Food Safety

Vaccine To Be Produced At Belleville Facility

BELLEVILLE - The McGuinty government is supporting the health of Ontarians by investing in an Animal Health and Food Safety Vaccine Manufacturing Centre, Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced today.

"This investment is good news for Belleville, for the agri-food industry, and for all Ontarians," said Dombrowsky. "Not only will this centre provide local high technology jobs, it will provide Canadian-made vaccines to protect our livestock and public health."

The province will provide $2 million to Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. to support market development for the E. coli O157:H7 cattle vaccine, the first product to be made in the manufacturing centre. Other partners in the project are the City of Belleville and the Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovation Network.

The centre will first produce a cattle vaccine that aids in the reduction of the amount of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria shed by cattle into the environment. These bacteria can contaminate food and water and endanger the health of humans. Under phase one of this project, Bioniche aims to provide sufficient E. coli O157:H7 vaccine for the North American market. Phase two involves a new manufacturing facility that will be able to provide this vaccine for the European and global export markets. Other livestock vaccines will also be manufactured here.

"We are committed to commercializing our E. coli O157:H7 cattle vaccine from Canada," said Graeme McRae, president and CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.. "The support of the Ontario government will help us to take this Canadian developed and manufactured technology to a global market."

This is just one more example of how, working together, Ontarians have achieved results in Ontario. Other examples include:

• Creating 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) to work with health service providers and community members to provide an integrated and patient-centred health care system that is focused on local needs. LHINs will make it easier for patients to gain access to the health services they need because these services will be coordinated locally - in their communities - with all the advantages that result from local awareness
  
• Providing $5 million in funding to Kellogg Canada Inc, Stanton Brothers Limited, and Code's Mill Inn and Spa to enhance economic development in their eastern Ontario communities and the province
  
• Enhancing educational experience of rural students by providing specialized programming using community and local resources, a new farming and rural major within the Specialist High Skills Major, and new rural and agricultural related cooperative education courses.

Today's investment was made through the Rural Economic Development Program, which invests in community-based projects that support sustainable rural economies in three priority areas: improved access to health care services, revitalized communities and downtowns, and enhanced skills training.

Through the RED Program, the province has invested $45.2 million in 140 projects, representing a total investment of $478 million in rural Ontario, since 2003. The Ontario government and its partners are building strong rural communities that work better for the people who live in them.

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Contacts:
Kelly Synnott
Minister's Office
416-326-6439

Brent Ross
Communications Branch
416-326-9342

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