Plans for a $245-million Diageo whisky distillery in St. Clair Township, paused last year, appear to still be on hold after the company announced plans to close its Amherstburg bottling plant, the township’s mayor says.

“I feel awful for them down there,” Jeff Agar said after Diageo said Thursday it’s moving some operations to the U.S., killing 160 jobs in Amherstburg. “I can imagine if it was something we had going here and you lose all them jobs.”

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Agar last spoke with Diageo representatives was a few months ago, he said.

“I was just as surprised as everybody else” about the Amherstburg shutdown, he said.

The multinational company said last November , two years after announcing plans for the distillery on about 161 hectares (397 acres) of industrial land across f

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