HGS call centre in Montague shuts down, 65 employees given notice

The HGS call centre in Montague is closing on March 4, company officials have confirmed.

There are approximately 65 active employees at the Montague site, who all received notice Tuesday.

"Although we are proud of the level of service delivered by our highly capable Montague employees, the limited labor market size has not allowed us to produce the scale that the business requires to be sustainable," HGS head of marketing for North America Joanne Morrison said in a written statement.

"This critical fact, multiplied by the challenges in the Canadian economic climate, have made this decision necessary."

Morrison said HGS values its association with Montague over the years, and is saddened by the circumstances that have made the decision necessary.

"We will make every effort to find each individual comparable employment at another HGS Canada location or within the community," she said.

"We will also provide guidance to any displaced employee on how to best utilize government programs available through this transition."

Kensington-Malpeque PC MLA and Economic Development and Tourism critic Matthew MacKay said the province needs to do more to keep businesses on P.E.I.

"It seems like every time we turn the news on it seems that there's another company closing the doors and people being laid off," he said.

"Government has got to step up to the plate here and realize that we have a problem. You know, there's certainly an issue in the provincial economy here right now. We are seeing it every day. The government needs to come with a plan and get to the drawing board and figure out how we are going to get around this and what's the solution for it."

MacKay called on the province to help the 65 workers at the HGS call centre who will be out of work on March 4.