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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Museum spinoffs an economic bright spot

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 02/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WHEN the first foundation pile is driven into the ground in about seven weeks, Manitobans will finally begin to see some of the tens of millions of dollars in economic benefits that will flow from the creation of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights.Museum officials told about 120 people attending a Winnipeg Realtors Association Commercial Division breakfast meeting that the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics estimates the highly anticipated capital works project will generate 2,040 person years of direct employment and another 1,500 person years of indirect employment in the province during three years of construction.

Museum officials also expect to spend at least $265 million to build and equip the new 12-storey facility, which will be the first national museum built outside the national capital region.

The museum's chief operating officer Patrick O'Reilly said in an interview the final price tag could be higher because construction costs have risen significantly since that cost estimate was calculated in 2004.

Museum officials should get a better idea of the projected cost within the next few weeks when the bids start rolling in on the eight tender packages that will be issued as part of the project.

In addition to the jobs that will be created and the building products and services that will be purchased, the project is also expected to generate an extra $75 million in federal and provincial tax revenues during construction.

Once the museum is up and running, hopefully in February 2012, it will employ between 140 and 180 full-time workers, and spend $27.2 million a year in operating expenditures and contribute another $7 million a year to federal and provincial tax coffers.

Then there are the economic benefits that will flow from the museum attracting an anticipated 75,000 new tourists a year. The Bureau of Statistics estimates these visitors will pump an extra $25.7 million a year into the local economy, and pay roughly $8 million a year in federal and provincial taxes while they're here.

"The ripple effect will be felt across many industries," O'Reilly said.

Winnipeg businessman Arni Thorsteinson, chairman of the museum's board of directors, also said that all of those tourists will be looking for places to stay, to eat, and to shop, which should lead to the opening of some new hotels, restaurants and shops.

Gail Asper, national campaign chair of Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, said she hopes the opening of the new museum will prompt city officials to beautify the route between the Winnipeg airport and the downtown, where the museum is being built.

"I do want that airport way fixed up," she said, echoing comments made a few years ago by her brother, Canwest Global Communications CEO Leonard Asper. "We've got company coming and we have to clean up our act..."

Asper also reiterated her call for more taxis for Winnipeg, saying she didn't agree with a consultant's conclusion that we only need more cabs in winter.

The capital cost of the museum project is being jointly funded by the three levels of government, which are contributing a total of $160 million, and the private sector.

Asper, whose father, the late Izzy Asper, first pitched the idea of building a national human rights museum here, said fundraisers are only $3 million shy of hitting their initial private-sector fundraising target of $105 million, although that target is expected to rise.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 10, 2009 B5

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