February 25th, 2021

MPP urges community consultation on new Stockyards slaughterhouse

York South—Weston MPP Faisal Hassan asked the Minister of Environment during question period Thursday about the approval and lack of community consultation regarding a new meat processing facility set to open in the Stockyards District in his riding.

"Many in my community of York South—Weston are disturbed by the news that a new slaughterhouse is opening up in the Stockyards District. Our office has been inundated with emails and calls objecting to this facility. A previous slaughterhouse in that location was closed and its license revoked as a result of multiple health and environmental violations. An Environmental Compliance Approval was granted to the former owners despite nearly 100 complaints in public consultations in 2018.

“How did this new facility get approval and why was the community not consulted?”

In 2019, the Ford government announced it would no longer be enforcing environmental standards related to complaints about noise and odour from facilities like this new slaughterhouse, downloading those responsibilities to municipalities.

Hassan urged the Ford government to ensure a new Environmental Compliance Approval take place.