Steinbach businesses share needs and opportunities with Minister

Steinbach needs to brag more if it wants to harness its full potential.

That’s the message from Steinbach Chamber of Commerce executive director Tessa Masi, who had a chance to do just that with a visit from 37 provincial business leaders and Manitoba Minister of Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation Jamie Moses for an economic development tour April 25.

“It’s huge because in Steinbach we have wonderful things to showcase, but we don’t always brag about them very loudly. We need to brag about the things that we have in our city more and put it on people’s radars,” said Masi.

One message received during the tour of local businesses including Steinbach’s Friesen Drillers was that they were willing to train their workforce, but they need more people to do the work.

Minister Moses said he got the message and had suggestions on how the province can help.

“We want to reach out to people who are maybe a little bit further away from the labour market. We can provide them with the schools they need to be active in the business labour market,” said Moses.

“The second piece of that is connecting people with the right skills. You need to have people have the right skills they need for a very changing landscape in industry. Part of that is the ability to adopt AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning, offer that chance in manufacturing. As we know, doing that manufacturing is very important to the Steinbach region and the valley in southern Manitoba.”

With the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce bringing so many business people to the Southeast, Moses agreed that just knowing what is available for work was a big part of helping fill the labour shortage.

“As Friesen Drillers pointed out, workforce is a challenge. For them, they train people on the job. How do we make sure there’s enough people who are interested in this line of industry, who know about it, know it’s going to have a good career for them.

“Some of it is the awareness thing. And some of it is making sure people know about all the incredible things that are happening here.

“I learned today that Friesen Drillers helped to put the geothermal part in the Manitoba Hydro building in downtown Winnipeg. That’s incredible. And if people knew about the type of expertise and the real experts they have there, it may help attract more into that field and being a part of leaders in that space because Friesen Drilling is a leader in Manitoba,” said Moses.

Workers from Manitoba, Canada and around the world can help fill those jobs, according to the minister.

“It’s about investing in Manitobans to make sure that they have the ability to work right here in Steinbach, in rural Manitoba. It’s also about making sure that we have the tools for newcomers who are coming to take full advantage of full participation in our economy,” said Moses.

A lot of business success is about location. On that, Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk, the minister and chamber director agreed.

“What I took away from what the minister said is that the province is really invested in economic development outside the perimeter,” said Funk.

The mayor said the Steinbach region’s central location in Canada and proximity to rail lines was an opportunity. He added that the people in Steinbach are willing to and do work, many having multiple jobs, and that there is even more room to grow with more training in local institutions like Red River College Polytechnic and giving more vocational students access to certification.

“We’ve also got land. We’ve got space,” said Funk.

The City’s role will be to make sure that land is serviced and ready to build on. Funk said they are doing that by investing in infrastructure like a new wastewater treatment plant that he hopes to open by 2027 and that will be large enough to serve residents and businesses until 2060, with a population up to 50,000 by then.

Churchill port

Another thing that caught everyone at the tour’s attention was the province’s plan to turn Churchill into a major port that could give easier access to world markets and cut reliance on the United States for trade.

Moses said the province and federal government have invested about $80 million to upgrade the rail system to Churchill, cutting two hours of travel time to Canada’s only deep sea arctic port. He said the next step is to invest in dredging and other port upgrades.

Moses pointed out that travel from Churchill is a shorter route to European markets like Germany than using the east coast.

“It’s something that’s unique to our province that definitely can be leveraged as we look at how to become more efficient and increase our productivity,” said Masi.

Building a workforce for the future and changing how and where Southeast goods can ship out has to be a long-term plan, stressed Moses.

“This is not something that is going to be just over one term of government or two terms of government. These goals are things that are meant to set us up for generations to come,” said Moses.