Manitoba prepares project pitches for investment summit

Powerhouse investors may hear pitches on Manitoba mines, silica sand projects and a massive greenhouse during Canada’s first major investors summit.

The Manitoba government is finalizing its list of projects to pitch at the Canada Investment Summit next month.

“The conversations that’ll be had… will be about investments in the billions of dollars,” Premier Wab Kinew said Friday.

“It’ll be one step among many that we take to build a bright future in Manitoba.”

Global banks and sovereign wealth funds will conglomerate in Toronto during the two-day event, spanning Sept. 14 and 15, that Ottawa is hosting.

The federal government is brokering one-on-one meetings between premiers and investors, Kinew said. He’s preparing to pitch Manitoba projects during these meetings. He declined to say who he’ll meet with.

Arctic Gateway Group, the Port of Churchill’s owner, will attend the summit.

They won’t be in Kinew’s one-on-one meetings, but there will events and opportunities otherwise, Kinew said. The province has been scheduling its own appointments.

Kinew will highlight the Port of Churchill Plus, which he’s said could be an economic boon for Manitoba.

The project would see port and infrastructure upgrades, including an all-weather road and icebreakers. It’s currently being reviewed by Ottawa’s Major Projects Office.

If completed, it could expand trade with markets such as Europe, proponents say.

“When we think about a sovereign wealth fund that is looking at things from a decades-long, century-long timeline, I think that’s a really strong pitch — to say, ‘You want a piece of the action in Western Canada? Well, here’s your opportunity,’” Kinew said.

The northern port will be included in a physical deal book the federal government is compiling, Kinew said.

Manitoba should have around half a dozen other projects in the book, Kinew added. Gold and nickel mines may be included, alongside silica projects by Canadian Premium Sand and Silex Resource Corp. (in Selkirk and the RM of Macdonald, respectively).

Manitoba could seek money to fuel the Thompson airport, which is opening a larger terminal, and for Azure Biofuels, which aims to build a sustainable aviation fuel processing facility near Portage la Prairie.

Vermillion Growers’ roughly 10-acre greenhouse in Dauphin could be noted in the deal book, Kinew said. In 2023, the company had plans for a second greenhouse on 40 acres south of the first locale.

“A lot of Manitobans have probably seen how the level of foreign investment in our country is increasing, so it’s nice to see that Donald Trump’s plan is backfiring,” Kinew said. “Our economy is benefitting.”

The upcoming summit is a “great opportunity” for the Port of Churchill Plus to gain private sector investment, said Bernie Morton, chief operating officer of the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think tank.

“There’s many smaller ports across Canada that need to be expanded,” Morton said. “(They) have a unique opportunity to be able to be contributing in a greater way to the Canadian economy.”

Whether Manitoba will be overshadowed by bigger provinces depends on how its representatives pitch, Morton added.

The Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway — which connects The Pas to Churchill — have already had private investment interest, said Chris Avery, Arctic Gateway Group’s chief executive.

“(The port and railway) represent trade enabling infrastructure, which is exactly what Canada needs right now,” Avery wrote in a statement, adding Arctic Gateway Group looks forward to working with government during the summit.

The Manitoba Métis Federation is among the groups without an invitation. President David Chartrand warned against inking deals without Indigenous participation.

“That’s when the problems start to circulate,” Chartrand said.

Asking Indigenous nations to partner after a plan is already in place and investors have been cemented often leads to issues, he continued.

He’s hoping the MMF gets a late invite: “We might be a small government, but we have some very long arms and (are) well connected.”

The Port of Churchill Plus has ongoing Indigenous participation via the Manitoba-Crown Indigenous Corp., Kinew said. The entity hasn’t been legislated, but its board is operational.

Legislation to give it “enhanced standing” will likely come in the next year, Kinew said.

“I’ll be pitching these projects, whether they’re on behalf of the Crown-Indigenous Corporation, a mining company or some of the other resource companies that have their projects on the list,” he added.

Representatives from Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the world’s largest bank, are on the summit’s guest list, as are major funds from the Middle East and Asia, The Globe and Mail reported.

Manitoba can “stack up pretty well” but needs to not be overwhelmed by projects in larger provinces such as Ontario, said Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

“We just need to make sure that we’re out there telling our story,” he said.

The province’s diversified economy and growth areas — such as CentrePort, an inland trimodal port — are worth highlighting, Davidson said.

Ottawa has set a goal of attracting $500 billion in private sector investment over the next five years. It’s partnering with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board on the summit.

Nearly 100 global investment organizations will attend, according to The Globe and Mail.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com