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Creating Opportunities Consultations

Adding Value in Rural and Northern Manitoba

INTRODUCTION

Rosann Wowchuk, Minister of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, appointed the Creating Opportunities Committee in January 2006. The intent was to enable Committee members to meet with rural and northern Manitobans about opportunities for adding value to Manitoba’s numerous natural, cultural and physical resources. The Committee was also asked to make recommendations to government, communities and industry on how these opportunities can be realized and how to address existing barriers that may hinder these opportunities.

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What you told us:

Ashern
Churchhill
Gladstone
Morden
Shoal Lake
Souris
Ste. Anne
Swan River
Teulon
The Pas
Winnipeg

PROCESS

The Creating Opportunities Committee held consultations in ten rural and northern communities in the ﬁrst three months of 2006 (see left)

Consultations with economic development practitioners were held on January 26, 2006 and with industry on February 21, 2006 in Winnipeg. Fourteen written submissions were received by the Committee during the consultation process. After meeting with community groups and reviewing the feedback from participants, the Committee began to identify the themes of opportunities and challenges. It developed recommendations to provide communities, governments and industry with ways to address the opportunities and barriers.

This report identifies the six themes of value-added opportunities that were consistently identified in the consultations:

The report also identifies barriers to taking advantage of these opportunities under the following general themes:

Financial
Human resources
Community capacity
Infrastructure
Regulations

The remainder of the report has been divided into sections that focus on each of the opportunity themes. An overview of each opportunity is presented, followed by a list of challenges that were identified by participants. Finally, a set of recommendations is provided. The recommendations are intended as guidelines for promoting the opportunity and for reducing or removing barriers. Many of the recommendations will continue to require the active participation of governments, communities, industries and/or private citizens.

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