By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-15 18:51:00 | Updated at 2024-11-25 20:58:48
1 week ago
Justin Trudeau's bizarre plan to invest nearly $9 million in an edible cricket factory has backfired after the company laid off two-thirds of its staff.
The Canadian Prime Minister, 52, invested $8.5 million of state funds into Aspire Food Group in June 2022 to help 'develop innovative ways to meet the demand for more sustainably grown food,' a press release said at the time.
Last year, the London, Ontario, factory opened up its 150,000-square-foot space that was supposed to hold 4 billion crickets at a time and create 13 million kilograms of edible cricket protein per year, according to The National Post.
However, the company laid off 100 of its 150 staff members, according to its CEO David Rosenberg.
Rosenberg said the company will be 'hiring back up in July' and will be cutting its production lines down to 'four times a week instead of two shifts a day every day,' he told AgFunderNews (AFN).
'The company reduced its employee base, mainly in production, while these changes - an updated design of how the crickets live in their habitat - are incorporated,' he told AFN.
'We had crickets everywhere,' he told The London Free Press.
Workers told AFN that they were 'handed termination letters after our shift' in a 'shocking' move.
Justin Trudeau's bizarre plan to invest nearly $9million in an edible cricket factory backfired as it lays off two-thirds of its staff. The Canadian Prime Minister, 52, invested $8.5million of state funds into Aspire Food Group in June 2022
Last year, the London , Ontario, factory opened up its 150,000-square-foot space that was supposed to hold 4 billion crickets at a time and create 13 million kilograms of edible cricket protein per year
'It is devastating, honestly. Most of us have families, we have rent to pay,' one worker told The London Free Press. 'Production has been up and down.'
Another worker told The Free Press that they were not offered severance pay and some workers are considering legal action.
'They told us they had run out of funding and we’re not getting anything,' they added to the outlet.
However, Rosenberg said 'everyone will be treated well by us' and they would receive severance.
'We are running out of funding. The economics of keeping people until July did not work. It is tough but it has to be done.'
Roughly 25 percent of the company's funding came from the Canadian government, while 30 percent came from a loan, according to AFN. The rest came from equity.
Aspire's product is largely being used in pet food supplied in North America, but they were working on deals to get it into human food as well, the then-CEO Mohammed Ashour told AFN in March 2023.
The company was supposed to be at 100 percent capacity by early 2024 and would have enough orders to maintain production.
The company laid off 100 of its 150 staff members, according to its CEO David Rosenberg. Rosenberg said the company will be 'hiring back up in July' and will be cutting its production lines down to 'four times a week instead of two shifts a day every day'
'We are running out of funding. The economics of keeping people until July did not work. It is tough but it has to be done,' the CEO (pictured) said
Roughly 25 percent of the company's funding came from the Canadian government, while 30 percent came from a loan
The company - started by five McGill University students - drew government attraction due to its sustainability as crickets have a lower environmental footprint than meat and dairy, according to The National Post.
The crickets aren't the only setback Trudeau has seen lately as his citizens are furious he refused to release the names of 900 Nazi war criminals who fled to Canada after WWII.
Jewish groups have called the decision 'disgraceful' and say it dishonors Holocaust victims and survivors.
The Canadian government is concealing the list of names amid fears it could be too embarrassing for the country, TNC reports.
The list of members of the Nazi-led SS Galicia unit was compiled by the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada.
The decision was met with disgust from Jewish nonprofit B'nai Brith.
'For decades, B'nai Brith & David Matas, B'nai Brith Canada's senior legal counsel, have fought for full access—only to face endless delays and stonewalling,' the organization said.
The company - started by five McGill University students - drew government attraction due to its sustainability as crickets have a lower environmental footprint than meat and dairy
'Canada is withholding hundreds of Nazi war-crimes files from the public. This disgraceful secrecy dishonors [sic] survivors and denies justice.'
Bernie Farber, who is the son of a Holocaust survivor and a past member of the Canadian Jewish Congress, branded the decision 'a shameful blot.'
