The boss of Winnipeg's economic development agency says the city is on an economic roll -- and he expects the good times to continue.
"We will enter cycles and there will be turbulence, but we are in an era where we are bucking the national trend," Stuart Duncan, CEO of Destination Winnipeg, said at the agency's annual general meeting Thursday.
"I think the last three to five years have definitely helped position Winnipeg better than anyone would have expected back in the early 2000s."
Duncan was able to list an impressive series of improvements the local economy has accomplished over the last few years, including a doubling of the number of meetings and conventions booked for the future in 2007.
"Now that we have a better position, we have a higher platform to build from," he said.
Nick Logan, CEO of National Leasing and the new chairman of Destination Winnipeg, agreed.
"Significant long-term economic development is within reach for the city," he said. "This may be the best decade in Winnipeg's history. There is so much on the go."
In 2007, the city and province posted impressive growth numbers -- putting them among the leaders in the country -- in GDP, retail sales, housing starts, job creation, real estate sales and housing starts. Economic development experts say this is the time for the city to leverage more growth from that sort of robust economic activity.
Destination Winnipeg and the convention and meeting planning community booked $54 million in future meetings and conventions in 2007, compared with $20 million to $30 million of business that was being booked every year in the early part of the decade.
Destination Winnipeg is an arm's- length economic development agency of the city. It co-ordinates public-private partnerships, puts together bid packages for large sporting and special events and co-ordinates information packages for businesses interested in operating in Winnipeg.
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
In the near future...
The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is already being framed as the city's signature tourism attraction and is expected to add millions to the city's economy every year.
The new James Richardson International Airport is a $500- million-plus project that is expected to continue to be an economic development driver. Interest and prospects are growing around the possibility of creating an inland port on the west side of the airport.
$100 million of major sporting and special events in the city over the next three to four years.
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