PCs chew out NDP over food contract with U.S.-based firm

The Progressive Conservatives say a government contract awarded to a multibillion-dollar U.S. firm should have been given to a Manitoba company.

The province awarded Aramark Canada — an Ontario-based company with its headquarters in the United States — a three-year, $36-million contract last year to provide bakery products to hospitals and correctional facilities.

“That $36 million should’ve stayed right here in Manitoba to help local companies,” Tory Leader Obby Khan told reporters.

Khan said he’d spoken with three local businesses who could’ve provided the services outlined in the contract.

The contract, which spans July 7, 2025 to Oct. 6, 2028, was competitively sourced, a public government document says.

Khan said in the chamber Wednesday that Manitoba has set a bad example for others. He referenced the City of Winnipeg, which recently made a deal with Aramark Canada to service Windsor Park and Kildonan Park golf courses instead of local restaurant Salisbury House.

Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu called Khan’s comments “rich” and said Aramark Canada employs more than 200 Manitobans.

The company aggregates food, meaning it buys from various businesses before delivering to customers. Manitoba makers likely supply Aramark, said Michael Mikulak, Food and Beverage Manitoba’s executive director.

While that is likely the case, directing government money outside the province is “really missing an incredible opportunity,” Mikulak said.

“You need to consciously invest in or structure the contracts in a way that it becomes accessible,” he said.

Manitoba businesses may not be able to fulfill an entire order but could service pieces of it, Mikulak said.

“Of course the cost pressures are there (for government), but they can really use that (procurement) to develop those local food systems,” he said. “Especially right now, when we’re in the middle of this trade war. It’s an important signal to send.”

Last October, Sandhu said the contract merged two former contracts — one for correctional facilities, another for hospitals — and saved the province $11 million.

The new contract spans Shared Health, provincial justice institutions and Red River College Polytechnic.

As mammoth firms get deals, Canadians are pushed out, one wholesaler told the Free Press Wednesday. Last October, businesses expressed concern that government food supply contracts would amalgamate and be given to an American-headquartered business.

Aramark Canada didn’t immediately respond to interview requests.

Manitoba has previously hired Aramark to supply food to a regional health authority, a government spokesperson said in October. The deal came under the PCs, Sandhu added Wednesday.

Aramark serves billions of meals annually, according to the company’s website.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com