MONCTON, N.B. -- The head of a company that pays people to donate blood plasma says he's hoping to get at least 1,000 donors a week at a newly opened clinic in New Brunswick.

Canadian Plasma Resources CEO Barzin Bahardoust said he's confident they can reach that target within two years at the clinic in Moncton, which opened last Monday.

"We can achieve our target of 1,000 donations per week with a donor base of approximately 2,500 people. People can donate as often as once a week but we don't expect everyone to do that," he said.

Bahardoust said he expects most will donate every couple of weeks, or about 20 times a year.

Blood plasma is the yellowish fluid that remains after red and white blood cells and platelets are removed.

Donors are given $30 for each donation, but he said that's upped to $50 if they donate more than five times per quarter.

"We want the donors to give as frequently as their time allows," Bahardoust said.

But a coalition of labour groups is pressing Health Minister Victor Boudreau to enact legislation banning pay-for-plasma clinics.

Danny Legere, vice-president of CUPE New Brunswick, said the province should look west for guidance.

"We'd like to see the New Brunswick government do what Quebec, Alberta and Ontario did, and bring in a piece of legislation that simply bans remuneration for blood or blood products," he said Thursday.

Legere said the group -- known as the New Brunswick Health Coalition -- plans to make it an issue during next year's provincial election.

Boudreau has said he welcomes Canadian Plasma Resources as long as it meets all the regulations set by Health Canada.

But Legere said the concern is the impact on the public system of blood collection by Canadian Blood Services.

"You will see a migration from voluntary donors to paid donors, especially those who find themselves in a vulnerable position, because you can give every week," Legere said.

He said the clinic's location near the University of Moncton could exploit students and the poor.

But Bahardoust said about 85 per cent of the plasma products used in Canada come from the United States, where donors are paid. He said it's contradictory for opponents to say that's acceptable in the U.S. but not in Canada.

"Do we want to do this here at home and bring the jobs and benefits to the economy to Canadians and have direct oversight by Health Canada on the collection of plasma, or do we want to just rely on another jurisdiction?" Bahardoust said.

Canadian Plasma Resources currently sends the plasma from Moncton and their other clinic in Saskatoon to a fractionation plant in Germany for processing into a variety of pharmaceutical products.

Bahardoust said they'd like to be able to sell the finished product back into Canada and are hoping to win a tender from Canadian Blood Services.

Provinces currently fund and get blood products from Canadian Blood Services, a non-profit agency that takes volunteer donations. The exception is Quebec, which has its own blood agency, Hema-Quebec.