Infrastructure Minister to press for trade corridor investment
Manitoba Transportation & Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor committed to pressing for all-province support for a national, multi-year investment strategy for trade corridors when meeting with transportation ministers in the next weeks.
Naylor made the commitment at a meeting with leaders of business groups January 25.
The minister noted that Manitoba, at the centre of the country, has to place trade transportation investment as a top priority.
Those attending the meeting were:
- Bram Strain, President & CEO, Business Council of Manitoba
- Chuck Davidson, President, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce
- Carly Edmundson, President, CentrePort Canada
- Chris Lorenc, President & CEO, Western Canada Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association
Naylor was joined by Deputy Minister Ryan Klos and senior staff.
The minister was told a multi-year, strategic plan for investment in trade corridors must be anchored by criteria to prioritize projects based on their value to the national trade corridor and gateway network. That precludes the typical bi-governmental funding programs that allot investment dollars on a per capita basis.
Canada’s reputation as a reliable trade partner has taken a hit in the last decade. In 2009, the World Economic Fund global survey placed Canada as 10th, on the reliability of trade transportation; in 2019, the same survey saw Canada fall to 32nd, behind Azerbaijan.\
Manitoba is a critical link in the national trade network, including to continental and international markets.
The location of CentrePort Canada at the nexus of major trade links (TransCanada, Highway 75, Emerson and routes to the Port of Churchill) speaks to the role Manitoba can and must play in expanding Canada’s trade profile and productivity.
Shipping, via Churchill, as an example, is much faster to Europe and Brazil than by way of western ports and the Panama Canal.
Premier Wab Kinew has expressed Manitoba’s intention to include northern development in his economic development policy and investment plans.
As well, Kinew has reiterated Manitoba’s support for the Canada Trade Infrastructure Plan, the principles of which were endorsed unanimously by all premiers in July, 2023 at the meeting in Winnipeg of the Council of the Federation.
The CoF issued a communique that also called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold a First Ministers’ meeting on the linked priorities of competitiveness and strategic infrastructure.
