Winnipeg city councillors have voted to go ahead with an incentive package for the OlyWest hog-processing facility proposed for east Winnipeg.

After hours of debate, councillors voted 10 to six to reject a motion to rescind a $3.4-million incentive package — including land and grants — that was approved in the fall for the OlyWest consortium.

"I'm glad councillors made the right decision — and potential investors in Winnipeg can now be absolutely sure that for city council, a deal is a deal," Mayor Sam Katz said in a release.

"With this vote, we don't have a political gun to our heads anymore," he said, adding that Winnipeggers who have concerns about the plant can bring them to the Clean Environment Commission, which will hold public hearings on the matter in 2007.

The results of Wednesday's vote mirrored the original vote on the package last November — when nine councillors supported the incentive package, six opposed it and one was absent — despite aggressive campaigns by both proponents and opponents in the weeks preceding the council meeting.

The OlyWest consortium can now bring its proposal to the provincial Clean Environment Commission, which will consider the potential environmental impact of the plant and determine whether to issue a licence.

Protesters' chants, cheers fill city hall

Hundreds of supporters and opponents of a hog-processing facility planned for Winnipeg's east end packed into city hall on Wednesday, filling the chamber completely and spilling out into the lobby and down stairways as the issue was debated by council.

Delegations from both sides have made presentations to council before the vote, and councillors discussed the issue at length.

Tensions were high at city hall earlier in the day when opponents of the project thought they would not be able to speak to council.

While a protest proceeded outside, supporters of the hog-plant proposal took almost all of the 180 seats in the council chamber.

When the protesters tried to move inside the chamber for the council meeting, they were blocked by city staff and police who told them the gallery was already full.

Once council began its deliberations, proponents of the project sat quietly in the chamber while hundreds of opponents lined the lobby, landing and stairs, listening to a sound feed and chanting and cheering every comment that supported their point of view.

Protesters seemed to acknowledge the possibility that the vote may not end in the result they want. Some carried signs reading, "Next stop: Gary Doer," indicating their intention to bring their battle to the premier.

Councillors have noted that the city's deal with OlyWest is not binding if the commission denies the plant a licence.

Officials with OlyWest say the plant would employ 1,100 people and process two million hogs a year by 2011.

Residents and businesses in the area have raised concerns about the plant's proposed location, citing its possible effect on air and water quality, traffic flow and property values.