Dear Editor:
I wish to respond to Coun. Lloyd’s Christopherson’s comments (Oct. 30) regarding the loss of Kettle Valley Dried Fruit business, during my term as mayor.
When this issue first came to council, I studied it intensely.
Strangely, there was no evidence of any effort to expand their business on the highway.
The manager had returned to his home town, St. Catharines, Ont. The Ontario government provided the manager with a grant of $884,570 to form the Niagara Natural Fruit Snacks Company.
The company itself, Kettle Valley Dried Fruits, had been bought by U.S. based SunOpta in 2003, several years earlier.
The American federal and state governments provided grants to SunOpta to improve their Omak, Wash. operations.
Kettle Valley Dried Fruits Company was not offered any provincial grants to remain in Summerland.
Sorry, Lloyd, I didn’t buy your arguments then or now.
David Gregory
Summerland