PM hints at major nation-building investment in Port of Churchill

New federal support for Churchill’s port could launch decades of investment in northern Manitoba, Premier Wab Kinew says.

Residents in the region say they hope the result is more people and more places to live.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said port infrastructure in the Hudson Bay community could top the list of Ottawa’s fast-tracked nation-building projects.

Carney provided few details but said more information would come in the next two weeks. He made the comments while in Europe, expanding agreements on energy and critical minerals.

In June, federal legislators passed Bill C-5, meant to expedite infrastructure projects determined to be of natural interest.

Kinew had pitched a trade corridor through the Port of Churchill as a federal-provincial partnership, opening a gateway to markets in Europe and South America.

Zinc concentrate, deemed a critical mineral in Canada, is being shipped through the port this summer. Liquefied natural gas is among the exports identified for potential shipping through the port.

Kinew lauded Churchill’s port as “transformational change” for Canada’s economy. The next generation of infrastructure in northern Manitoba could be “in the order of magnitude of $30 billion,” he said.

“To see that the government of Canada is prepared to recognize and seize that opportunity — hopefully, that’s going to send a really strong signal,” he said. “Not just to the private sector to have confidence, but also to all Canadians.”

The federal and provincial governments have funnelled millions of dollars into revitalizing the Port of Churchill — Canada’s only deep-water Arctic port connected to a North American surface transportation network — and the Hudson Bay Railway, which connects the northern town to The Pas.

Bill C-5 was, in part, a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s crippling tariffs imposed on imports of Canadian goods not covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement.

“We’re within a context determined, at the outset, by (U.S.) President Trump,” Kinew told reporters. “We’ve now grabbed the bull by the horns, in terms of our Canadian economy, and are driving it towards a direction that we want to see.

“This is really about laying down the economic opportunity for Western Canada, and all of Canada, to benefit from the fact that we have tidewater in northern Manitoba.”

Ships currently enter the northern port from July through October.

Arctic Gateway Group, the port’s owner, recently inked a memorandum of understanding with international shipping firm Fednav to explore moving goods through the port throughout the year.

University of Manitoba researchers are studying Hudson Bay’s potential shipping-friendly period; results likely won’t be published for another year.

“To see that the government of Canada is prepared to recognize and seize that opportunity — hopefully, that’s going to send a really strong signal.”–Premier Wab Kinew

Local residents are pointing to a lack of housing.

“We have a bit of a housing crisis here in Churchill,” said Dave Daley, a former Churchill Chamber of Commerce president. “Our Manitoba Housing units… have been degraded.

“If we’re going to be investing in the Port of Churchill and creating jobs, then we need to fix the infrastructure.”

Kyle Walkoski, president of Great White Bear Tours, is building a six-bedroom rental property in Churchill. He expects demand will be great as construction crews visit.

“There’s nowhere to put anybody,” he said, echoing Daley’s comments about housing degradation.

The province has been in talks with Indigenous governments and local leadership about building up infrastructure, Kinew said. Leadership will create new infrastructure “in a way that works for everybody in our province,” he said without providing further details.

Rhoda de Meulles cut her staffing levels at Churchill Home Building Centre after the Hudson Bay Railway washed out in 2017.

When train service halted, families left, de Meulles said. Food and other imports became more expensive; visiting Winnipeg — by plane only, as a result — was costly.

The population dropped 3.2 per cent between 2016 and 2021, Canadian census data shows.

“A lot of those people used to buy lumber and build things,” de Meulles said. “Soon as everybody left, there was no more building, no more nothing.”

She’s watched business pick up over the past year. Construction crews have been buying goods for work on the port, she said.

Arctic Gateway Group took ownership of the port and railway and repaired the track, in 2018.

“Our Manitoba Housing units… have been degraded… If we’re going to be investing in the Port of Churchill and creating jobs, then we need to fix the infrastructure.”–Dave Daley

“I’m happy that they’re going to do more with this port, because that means more people, and we really need more people in this town,” de Meulles said.

More activity in Churchill likely means more trainees at University College of the North, said president Doug Lauvstad.

Calm Air, which services Churchill, adds to a “great integrated network” with rail and sea transportation, said chief executive Gary Bell.

Building the economy through the port will provide resources to take care of Manitoba’s environmental concerns, Kinew said.

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Exporting liquefied natural gas to other countries, for example, could assist in lowering carbon emissions when they’re switching from “dirtier forms” of energy, he said.

Ottawa has invested at least $277 million over the past six years on Churchill’s port and railway restoration.

Arctic Gateway Group announced in July it was doubling the number of weekly freight trains along the Hudson Bay Railway and tripling storage capacity of critical minerals this year. Chris Avery, the group’s CEO, anticipated 20,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate to travel through the site.

— With files from The Canadian Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.