Boosters promote the road to Arborg

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/11/2010 (5724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

YOU’D have to excuse some American clients of Vidir Machine for thinking their GPS units were broken when they came to visit the Arborg-based manufacturer.

“It’s hilarious,” said Peter Dueck, co-president of the company that makes motorized storage and display systems for carpets, bicycles and other products. “They come to Winnipeg and start driving and eventually they run out of paved roads. They wonder if we’re stringing them a line. They think they’re coming to a foreign country.”

All joking aside, Dueck said one of the challenges of working in a relatively remote community is the lack of infrastructure. Paved roads, for example, would be extremely beneficial to Vidir so its products don’t get muddy and dusty when they leave the plant. Having access to natural gas would be helpful for a number of its processes too, he said.

Upgrading gravel roads is just one of the challenges facing Arborg, a town of 1,617 located little more than an hour’s drive north of Winnipeg.

It also needs more houses, rental properties, a hotel, more campground sites, a variety of retailers and an improved business environment to attract further development.

That’s largely why the town has launched Growing Arborg, a new campaign to tell Winnipeg and the world that it’s open for business. (Its advertisements are featured on Winnipeg Transit buses around town.)

“Everywhere you look, there’s growth,” said Pat McCallum, economic development officer for Arborg-Bifrost. (Bifrost is the rural municipality.) “People are moving in here and houses come up for sale and, poof, they’re sold. The prices are considerably higher here than in other rural areas. All of our rental properties have waiting lists.”

McCallum said the campaign’s primary target market is former Arborg residents now living in Winnipeg.

“We want to let Winnipeggers and business people know that we are open for business, that there are opportunities here. If they want to invest, open a new branch plant or a new franchise for their restaurant, Arborg is a great place to do that,” she said.

The town’s population has grown by nearly 40 per cent in the last five years, McCallum said, with many of the newcomers arriving from all corners of the globe.

Koby Wiebe, service co-ordinator for Arborg’s immigration program, said 142 families have moved to the town since 2007, leaving Bolivia, Paraguay, Belize, Mexico, the Philippines, Germany and Russia behind.

He helps them cut through all the red tape associated with getting a driver’s licence, a health card, Canada Revenue Agency’s child tax benefit, and opening a bank account. But he also ensures they have a busy social calendar, too. For example, Wiebe recently hosted a Thanksgiving party to introduce the latest batch of newcomers to Canadian culture.

Vidir is unquestionably one of Arborg’s economic bedrocks. It employs 130 people, almost 10 per cent of the town, and sells its products to more than 20 countries around the world, including Australia, Chile, England, Mexico and the United States.

Dueck said he likes being off the beaten path and doesn’t feel any urge to relocate the company to the big city.

“We believe Arborg has a lot to offer. (It’s great) when your controller is the spouse of a former MLA and your machine operator is the local town councillor and your procurement manager is the chair of the church board. We work and worship and play together. Our kids know each other. That’s the culture of our company,” he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca