Bata closing factory in Batawa

Bata Industries is closing its shoe factory in the Trenton area, eliminating 209 jobs.

The layoffs will begin next month and production will cease next March.

The factory in the town of Batawa was opened sixty years ago. Back in 1979 it was putting out 4.6 million pairs of shoes a year. That's now down to just under one million.

A company spokesperson says the problem is imports. He says 25 years ago, half of the shoes sold here were made here. As of last year, Canadian shoes accounted for less than 10 per cent of the market.

The company's chief executive, Jim Pantelidis, says the reality is that we live in a fiercely competitive global market that dictates tough business decisions.