THUNDER BAY -- So far the local port authority is looking at a takeover of the former Canadian Wheat Board as a positive for the city.
The Wheat Board’s monopoly on selling the country's wheat and barley was ended in 2011 with a deadline to have a privatization plan by next year and have that plan in place by 2017.
On Wednesday it was announced that G3 Global Grain Group would become the majority owner of the CWB, with farmers selling their grain through the group holding onto 49.9 per cent.
The group is a partnership between Bunge Canada, which has a parent company operating in 40 countries, and SALIC Canada Limited, part of Saudi Arabia's main agriculture company. They say the new partnership will invest $250 million into the country's grain system.
Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO Tim Heney said the move will definitely have an impact on the city.
"It's interesting," he said in an interview with tbnewswatch.com Thursday. "It's hard to figure out all of the ramifications at this point but Thunder Bay is one of the only places the wheat board actually owns assets so it's definitely going to have some impact. I think I'd have to view it as a positive at this point but we'll have to wait and see."
The CWB's Mission River facilities are aged so Heney is hoping to see investment there. Historically the board has focused on the Eastern corridor, including Thunder Bay.
It also has two new vessels on the Seaway, which is good news for Thunder Bay's port.
"I look at it more as a sustainability measure," Heney added.
"They have a very big investment in the Seaway system, which is important to us."
