Manitoba offers $13M for planned grain centre in downtown Winnipeg

The Manitoba government is putting up $13 million for a centre aimed at helping grain producers find new international trading partners.

Cereals Canada, a national industry group, announced plans last year for a new $100-million facility in downtown Winnipeg called the Global Agriculture Technology Exchange. The building is to include space for offices, training and research.

Premier Wab Kinew says the province is likely to put up even more money.

“This $13 million is a down payment,” explained Kinew. “We’d like to go one-third, one-third, one-third along with industry and with the federal government. So to show that we’re serious about this, to show that we’re serious about our producers, our exporters and our downtown, we’re making this investment today.”

Kinew says the centre will help showcase Manitoba’s grains and drive up global demand for Canadian products.

“We’ve got the best producers, we’ve got the best products, we need to do the best job of marketing ourselves internationally,” Kinew said.

He adds it will also protect jobs at a time when agriculture is facing a trade war on two fronts, with tariffs from the United States and China. He says it’s also about diversifying business partners and developing strong relationships with the likes of Korea, Japan, the European Union and Brazil.

“We’re going up against Australia and America, and they have these really strong offers when hosting international clients, so we as Canada, we need to put our best foot forward,” the Manitoba premier said.

“So to have an agriculture campus in downtown Winnipeg, that’s going to be a state-of-the-art facility, that has the high tech machinery to show these big buyers how to use our premium agriculture products from here in Canada, this is how we put our best foot forward, this is how we close the deal and bring more business and more money and more jobs to our great country.”

The funding for the project is coming from various stakeholders.

“Farmers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, have come together and raised $13.5 million,” said Dean Dias, the CEO of Cereals Canada. “Cereals Canada has put in our own reserve fund of $5 million into the project, and now this $13 million will get us on our way to where we need to go.”

The stakeholders hope the federal government will contribute to fill funding gaps for the remaining $70 million to finish the project.

–With files from The Canadian Press