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The announcement that Highline Mushrooms will close its plant in Prince Edward County is a blow that resonates far beyond the loss of one employer. It is a glaring reminder that local and federal leadership — from Council at Shire Hall to MPP Tyler Allsopp and MP Chris Malette — have failed to create a serious strategy to attract, retain, and expand manufacturing jobs in the County.
For decades, PEC has been overly reliant on tourism, food retail, real estate, and speculative development. These sectors are important, but they are also seasonal, low-wage, and fragile compared to the steady, year-round incomes offered by manufacturing. Highline was one of the rare anchors that provided stable employment, payroll dollars circulating through local businesses, and industrial tax revenues that help fund municipal services. Its closure reveals a structural weakness: there is no coherent plan at any level of government to support and grow manufacturing in this community.
Manufacturing: The Missing Pillar
According to PEC’s own economic development snapshot, manufacturing contributes roughly $34 million annually in wages, outpacing agriculture and food services. Yet the sector has been neglected in planning and investment priorities.
Instead, leadership has leaned heavily on three fragile pillars:
- Tourism and food retail jobs are typically low paying, part-time, and without benefits. They bring in dollars but also cause wear and tear on roads, water systems, and healthcare services that residents ultimately pay for.
- Real estate speculation inflates housing prices, brings in temporary residents who do not meaningfully contribute to the community, and enriches real estate agents rather than building long-term economic stability.
- Reckless and uncontrolled development has been approved without matching investments in infrastructure. Water and wastewater plants, roads, and emergency services are stretched thin, yet developers are not footing the bill for the upgrades required. Instead, the burden falls squarely on existing taxpayers — already facing among the highest water bills in Ontario and property tax increases of nearly 9% in a single year.
This is not sustainable economic planning. It is a short-term approach that leaves residents paying more while getting less.
Highline as a Case Study
Highline Mushrooms is not a small operator. With annual revenues estimated at over $130 million across Canada and multiple plants, it is one of the largest organic mushroom producers in North America. When such a company chooses to wind down operations in PEC, it is not because it lacks capacity. It is because the environment here — infrastructure, workforce, and government support — is weaker than in competing regions.
Ingersoll, where Highline is expanding, offers better transportation links, industrial servicing, and access to provincial programming. PEC’s lack of serviced industrial land, high utility rates, and absence of incentives made it easier for the company to consolidate elsewhere. This is a failure of municipal foresight and higher-level advocacy.
The Cost of Failure
The closure will not just eliminate jobs. It will:
- Reduce industrial tax revenues, forcing greater reliance on homeowners.
- Cut millions in local wages, affecting spending at small businesses.
- Deter other manufacturers from considering PEC, reinforcing its reputation as a tourist-and-real-estate economy only.
- Increase out-commuting, as residents drive to Belleville, Trenton, or Kingston for work.
All while residents shoulder skyrocketing bills for water, property taxes, and infrastructure upgrades tied to development that does not pay for itself.
What Should Have Been Done
- Aggressive Industrial Strategy: Market PEC as a hub for agri-processing and light manufacturing.
- Incentives and Infrastructure: Invest in serviced industrial land, backed by provincial and federal support.
- Retention Efforts: Create a business retention task force to support employers like Highline before closure became inevitable.
- Growth Pays for Growth: Enforce development charges and community benefits so developers, not residents, cover the true costs of infrastructure expansions.
- Stronger Advocacy: Tyler Allsopp and Chris Malette should have fought for manufacturing funding from Queen’s Park and Ottawa, just as other regions like Niagara and Leamington successfully have.
Time for Accountability
Residents deserve better. They deserve a council that prioritizes sustainable, year-round jobs over speculative growth. They deserve an MPP who can bring provincial investment, and an MP who can secure federal support for rural manufacturing.
Highline’s closure should be a turning point. Without manufacturing, PEC will remain trapped in a cycle of seasonal, low-wage jobs, inflated real estate markets, reckless development, and higher taxes. If current leaders cannot deliver a credible economic strategy, residents should demand new ones who will.