Biz community demands fresh ideas from election winner: Chamber poll

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This article was published 30/08/2023 (739 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG’S frustrated business community has had enough of Manitoba’s “pendulum” economy and wants significant changes from its next provincial government, a poll provided exclusively for the Free Press reveals.

“The overall theme emerging from our discussions and consultations with our members is significant change is needed,” Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Loren Remillard said Tuesday.

Just days ahead of the official start of the Oct. 3 election campaign, the chamber released “Advancing Economic Growth: Reform Priorities for the Next Provincial Government,” which calls for a stronger economy, better-functioning institutions and support for local businesses.

Advancing Economic Growth

The 28-page report is based, in part, on surveys conducted for the organization by Probe Research Inc.

“What we’ve seen in Manitoba is a pendulum swinging back and forth,” Remillard said. “What I think our members are looking for is a break from the pendulum swing and something new, something innovative. We can no longer continue to apply yesterday’s tired approaches to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

“No single organization or party has all the answers.”

Nearly half of those surveyed think the overall direction of the province is negative, compared to just one in five who think Manitoba is on the right track.

Close to half of the respondents said the province should delay balancing its budget, with nearly four in 10 supporting the current Progressive Conservative government plan to balance it by 2028. Fewer than one in five favour a more aggressive timeline.

Budget 2023 expects the province’s real gross domestic product to slow from 3.6 per cent growth in 2022 to 0.7 per cent this year, rising slightly next year to 1.1 per cent.

Despite the best intentions of the business sector and government ambitions, productivity and competitiveness continue to decline, the chamber said.

“If our economy is shrinking, we’re not talking about making those large-scale investments (in health care and education),” said Remillard. “If it’s growing, now we can have those conversations.

“So the issue is how do we make sure the economy continues to grow, to sustain the investments and the community we want going forward? Has spending more money on an issue ever solved that problem? The answer is no. So let’s try to find a different way to approach those issues, those challenges.”

More than half of the chamber survey respondents said health care is a top-three election issue.

Two-thirds of respondents said improving downtown Winnipeg should be a high priority — if not the top priority — for the next provincial government. And they’re most likely to favour approaches that emphasize social supports, including creating more social-work patrols and hiring more mental-health and addictions support workers rather than funding more police officers.

Finding qualified employees is the biggest challenge (28 per cent) for local companies and organizations; 46 per cent of companies with 50 or more employees cited it as their main obstacle.

When it comes to addressing climate change, 76 per cent of chamber members said Manitoba is doing a “fair/poor” job, while 13 per cent deemed it “excellent/good.” Respondents were supportive of programs that encourage businesses to reduce waste and obtain green technology, but were less keen on further increases to the carbon tax to help reduce emissions.

“They want to see our government, our community play a role in addressing climate change locally, and they see momentum and investments and development in the green economy and climate-change action in other jurisdictions,” said Remillard.

“I think our members — maybe more so than the average person — see the economic opportunity that is present within addressing climate change. Our members really, clearly, want to lean into: how do we capitalize on those opportunities?”

The survey of 192 people was conducted May 3-25, with those who completed it being invited to partake in a longer and more in-depth questionnaire, which 29 respondents completed. Because the surveys are a sample of convenience, no margin of error could be ascribed. The surveys, along with focus groups, existing policy papers, research and partner network collaborations, contributed to the chamber setting its election priorities, Remillard said.

The May surveys are a “snapshot in time” that likely shifted over the summer, with improving the downtown becoming an even greater priority for chamber members, he said.

The chamber wants the next provincial government to release — by next year — a detailed, measurable plan for growth over the next decade with timelines and targets outlining how Manitoba will respond to the immediate economic challenges and leverage the challenges and opportunities that will impact the province over the next 10 years.

“We’ve always said, ‘When you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.’”–Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Loren Remillard

“We’ve always said, ‘When you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail,’” he said, acknowledging that Premier Heather Stefanson’s Progressive Conservative government released its Opportunities for Economic Growth Action Plan in July, but said it was lacking in timelines and metrics, and that fewer than half of chamber members had heard of it.

“If this is a 10-year plan, tell the community where are we going to be in Year 8? Year 9? Year 10? And what are the metrics we’re going to assess to tell if we’re making progress?”

The chamber, which is hosting a Sept. 20 lunch-hour leaders’ debate, has shared its priorities with Manitoba’s three main parties.

“There is an overall agreement across the board that the economy is fundamental to whatever we want to do as a province, and that’s encouraging,” he said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

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