The CEO of Roquette's excited to be expanding into Portage la Prairie.

Jean-Marc Gilson says with a $400-million investment on the line, it wasn't a quick decision.
 
"We're announcing a very large investment of 400 million dollars, and because of the investment we've been very thorough in our analysis. So over the last 18 months we've looked into about 40 different sites in North America in the U.S. and Canada and then over the last 6 months we've really looked into narrowing down and zooming in on the right locations. At the end of the day we decided on Portage. "

Gilson says they chose Portage because it's easy access to raw materials, very good access to a good workforce. "Other things like access to renewable resources, hydro-electric power is very important to us too," says Gilson. "A great logistics hub and it will be easy to ship from here across North America. Last, but not least, it was a great and business friendly environment for us. So when you put all of that together for us it seals the deal."
 
He says at the end of the day they really enjoyed what Portage had to offer, and he's looking forward to the future.

The plans were announced today by premier Brian Pallister at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg for European-based food processor Roquette to build a $400 million pea protein extraction plant in the RM of Portage la Prairie. The location is a 70-acre lot just south of Simplot.

RM of Portage la Prairie reeve Kam Blight shares what it means for the area.

"Right off the bat, they're looking at roughly 150 jobs once the facility is up and operational," Blight notes. "That doesn't include all the constructional jobs that will be involved in the design, engineering, and building of the facility. There will be a lot of job creation right off the bat. This is an excellent boost for our agricultural community, giving the farmers more options and opportunities with producing peas to provide the facility protein extraction process."

He says he doesn't know how far-reaching this will be with the spin-offs, but it could be vast. Blight notes the trucking industry could really excel.