Runciman Lauds Loyalist College Hershey Boycott
(Brockville) Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman today had strong words of praise for Loyalist College’s decision to remove Hershey products from all the College’s vending machines as a reaction to Hershey’s decision to close their profitable and historic Smiths Falls plant, throwing 500 people out of work.
“From my experience, Loyalist is sending the only message that big business might listen to” stated Runciman.” Their overriding interest is the bottom-line and unless you can demonstrate impact on that, it’s unlikely they will listen to any amount of reason.”
Runciman cited his experiences as an Ontario cabinet minister where the government went to extraordinary lengths to convince major employers to reconsider closure decisions and were consistently rebuffed.
“We can’t close the door on other efforts to encourage Hershey to reconsider” said Runciman, “But in my view, a parallel, nation-wide boycott of the company’s products is the best chance we have to get them to blink.”
The veteran MPP encouraged others in the public sector, along with business and private citizens, to follow Loyalist’s lead and boycott Hershey products.
“Hershey has made a decision to walk away from a profitable operation and dramatically damage our region’s economy” stressed Runciman.” We should all get involved in sending them a very clear message and encourage other Canadians to do the same.”
