Premier announces funding to help pharmaceutical company expand
Nov 27, 2008 - 05:27 PM
By Kristen Calis
PICKERING -- Fifty-three, high-value jobs coming to a local pharmaceutical company will help lead the world in the knowledge economy of the 21st century, Ontario's Premier said Thursday.
"You are a genuine pillar of strength in this community and this province," Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said to Purdue Pharma Canada employees and its president, John Stewart.
Premier McGuinty announced the Province is investing $4.9 million through its Biopharmaceutical Investment Program toward Purdue's $32-million expansion, set to begin in January. The investment program is part of the government's Next Generation of Jobs Fund.
Purdue has manufacturing, research and development and administrative facilities in Pickering, with a special focus on drug-delivery technologies. It creates products for treating pain, respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disorders and infection control. Following a tour of the facility, Premier McGuinty could see just how successful it is.
"They have experienced growth every single year and they have never ever laid off a person," he said.
The investment will double the company's research and development capacity in Ontario and create more than 100 jobs for skilled tradespeople during the construction phase, on top of the high-skill jobs at the Pickering facility. Purdue currently employs more than 200 people in Ontario.
"When you open the new facility 53 people will have their dream job," Premier McGuinty said.
And, some of those jobs will go to graduates of the University of Ontario Institute of Techonology's master's program in bioscience.
"It's a new program," said UOIT president Ron Bordessa. "It's just vamping up. There's significant demand for it and over time I think it will be very (successful)."
He said the university is soon putting forward a proposal for a doctorate program in applied bioscience. Purdue also offers internships for the master's students, he said.
Pickering-Scarborough East MPP Wayne Arthurs described Purdue as one of Durham's leading corporate citizens and is glad to see it grow.
"Not only is it the fourth largest private-sector employer in Pickering, it has made important contributions to UOIT, the Ajax and Pickering hospital and the United Way," he said.
The announcement of the Province's funding going to the facility shows that Pickering is a good place to invest, said Mayor Dave Ryan.
"This is another example of how Pickering is growing," he said.
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