OTTAWA — The federal government will keep the abattoir open at the Pittsburg Institute in Joyceville, near Kingston.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan told the Whig Standard: "I had instructed the Correctional Services of Canada people to do whatever possible to, first of all, see that none of our actions resulted in the closure of that abattoir."

The abattoir operates under the name of Wallace Beef Inc. as a training facility for between 8-to-10 inmates and employs six people from the private sector, including manager Bruce Wallace.

The facility processes between 50 and 60 animals a week, mostly beef and dairy animals, and some sheep, Wallace said.

The Coalition, an ad hoc group made up of farm organizations and "buy local" groups, will meet with Van Loan June 8. It is lobbying the government to retain the Frontenac Institute’s 133-cow milking operation and 10,000 -unit laying operation.

The government has said it won’t sell the 1,000 acres at Pittsburg Institute or the 800 acres at the Frontenac Institute, but will rent it out to local farmers. Twenty-three farm employees, eight at the Pittsburg Institution and 15 at Frontenac, have been told to go job hunting but have been promised jobs within the system.