Federal diagnostics lab in Winnipeg faces job cuts

Federal budget cuts are having an impact at the National Research Council laboratories in Winnipeg.

A total of 47 scientists and researchers at the NRC Institute for Biodiagnostics on Ellice Avenue received layoff notices on Tuesday. That follows earlier layoffs in 2011.

An NRC spokesperson told CBC News that the employees will lose their jobs starting in July.

The facility conducts research into medical devices to help diagnose conditions such as cancer and stroke.

It began with a staff of 25 in 1992 but has grown to employ more than 200 scientists, students and collaborators in Winnipeg, Halifax and Calgary.

The federal government is planning to close the Ellice Avenue building and sell it, as part of a move to restructure the agency.

The NRC expects to open a new technical centre in Winnipeg with its remaining 44 employees in the city, according to the agency spokesperson. It is also selling hardware for medical imaging.

Last week, employees at a Health Canada laboratory learned their workplace is being shut down.

Health Canada is closing its Drug Analysis Service lab in Winnipeg and transferring the work to its labs in Toronto, Longueuil, Que., and Burnaby, B.C.

Twenty-five jobs from the Lagimodiere Boulevard facility will be cut, but 20 employees will be allowed to transfer to the other laboratories, according to federal officials.