‘Manitoba’s time is now,’ northern economic forum told

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/12/2022 (1039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has been five years since the province’s Look North initiative was undertaken to investigate opportunities and challenges for economic development in northern Manitoba.

Despite co-chair Chuck Davidson’s contention that it would be a “living document” and not sit on the shelf, the betting odds at the time would have favoured the shelf.

But since then the global electrification process has hit its stride including a growing realization that critical minerals needed for batteries can be found in northern Manitoba; the Arctic Gateway Group has received another $133 million to upgrade the Hudson Bay Railway — including an unprecedented investment from the province; and Indigenous partnerships in resource projects is a fact of life and seen as a value-added feature in many cases.

There was an actual buzz in the packed Fort Garry Hotel Ballroom early on a snowy Wednesday morning as Davidson moderated a discussion about Unleashing the Economic Opportunities in Northern Manitoba at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event.

The room may have been full of the converted, but included in that characterization was industry minister Cliff Cullen and the head of the cabinet’s economic development secretariat, Michael Swistun seen playing match-maker with mineral exploration company executives.

There was talk of deals actually being made in the room.

Michael Woelcke, CEO of the Arctic Gateway Group, one of the presenters, made repeated mention that there were “friends from Nunavut” in the room as he made it clear the railway and the Port of Churchill intend to win back the Nunavut resupply business that was lost to Montreal when the rail line was forced to shut down a few years ago after an early spring storm washed out parts of the tracks.

One attendee said he was recently in Churchill and saw a shipment of about 25 Ford F-150 trucks — all of which came from Montreal dealerships, not from Manitoba trucks dealerships.

“We have talked about the potential of $500 million worth of good coming out of Manitoba going north,” Woelcke said. “That is not exaggerating. It is real.”

Christian Sinclair, the former chief of Opaskwayak Cree Nation and Davidson’s co-chair of Look North, spoke about a partnership he recently helped forge that could see real opportunities for the Marcel Colomb First Nation to participate in the development of a gold mine in Lynn Lake.

Sinclair is also facilitating discussions between Tataskweyak Cree Nation and a division of Fortiscue Metals — the huge Australian mining company — which is investigating the possibility of developing a green hydrogen energy production facility in Manitoba.

Yes, Philip Gross, the CEO of Snow Lake Lithium is trying to promote his project but he said he believes “Manitoba will crush the other provinces” in the current race to discover and extract the critical minerals like lithium needed to meet the exponential growth in demand for batteries.

“We have the raw materials, the rail infrastructure, the renewable energy and the ability to train future generations for these industries,” he said. “Manitoba can really become a powerhouse in this transition. I see it clear as day. It is a vision we can absolutely execute on and successfully complete.”

But exploration companies are looking for lithium all over the place not just in northern Manitoba. Fortiscue is signing memorandum of understandings with First Nations elsewhere in Canada in its search for the right place to build a hydrogen energy plant. The potential of the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill has been discussed for decades.

The point is the confluence of opportunity and commitment and actual capital investment is happening right now in Manitoba.

Real investment is being made in the rail line so that it may actually have the capacity to haul heavy minerals at speed. Folks now know how to do the Indigenous partnerships and the communities are increasingly skilled at making them work.

Another presenter, Becky Cianflone, the executive director of the Flin Flon Community Futures office and the chair of University College of the North, said, “Our biggest challenge is our biggest opportunity.”

The Indigenous youth population in the north is growing three times faster than the general population. UCN is small enough to pivot to market demand when it comes to training.

Meanwhile, organizations like North Forge Technology Exchange and New Media Manitoba are creating footholds in the north, in response to demands to diversify the economy from the resource sector.

“Manitoba’s time is now,” said Woelcke.

Asked where things will be in five years, it no longer seems like a pipe dream to think the Hudson Bay Railway will be hauling all sorts of commodities north and south or that the northern Indigenous population will have a much greater economic footprint or that the value-added manufacturing related to the battery industry will be taking place in Manitoba.

Cianflone said, “Five years from now this breakfast will have to be held at the convention centre because we will fill that place.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca