The following notes represent a consolidated record of all group discussions held in Morden on February 22, 2006. The final Creating Opportunities report reflects the input received at this and other consultations held throughout Manitoba.

Opportunities | Supports | Entrepreneurship

OPPORTUNITIES

A number of value-added opportunities exist in Manitoba.

What opportunities exist for value-added business in this area?

• The area is currently growing, due to immigrants who contribute to the economy, bring specialized skills and education and have a strong work ethic.
• The existing local population and its accumulated wealth.
• A number of manufacturing activities and opportunities are present in the area.
• Energy production, including bio-diesel, ethanol, biomass, pelleting, hydrogen and wind power – but need to fully understand economic costs..
• Tourism (such as the Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, museums, snow and ice sports, lake and beach, golf, bed & breakfasts, tour guides, vacation homes) brings income and supports local retail and commercial enterprises – Winnipeg is main market area, and more city people need to be attracted.
• Bed & barn accommodations for tourists with horses.
• Promotion of the fishing industry south of Winnipeg along the Red River, and development of service providers to support sport fishing industry.
• Boyne River Dam in Treherne offers opportunities for recreation, irrigation and a water plant.
• Functional food provides an opportunity for small businesses and has created a rise in oats prices, and opportunities exist for flax (omega-3 oil) and beans (lower cholesterol and high fiber) – need to get message out, develop the consumer market.
• Edible beans and soybeans offer opportunities for further processing, including milling for flour, non-GMO soybeans, and other niche markets.
• Opportunity exists for organic agriculture, but few want to pay for it and there is a question as to whether it provides a real or perceived benefit – for a grower it’s a lifestyle commitment.
• Seed trade offers opportunities for wheat, flax and hemp seed.
• Processing of crops, including milling wheat for flour and crushing of flax and other oilseeds.
• Production and processing of buckwheat and promoting the health benefits of its consumption.
• Adding value to grain by feeding it to livestock.
• Exotic livestock, such as elk and ostrich.
• An abattoir and processing facility to support locally raised livestock.
• New ready to eat livestock products can be developed in at FDC in Portage.
• Composting of specific risk material from abattoirs onto land base.
• Value-added processing of grains and oilseeds, targeting niche products or products that don’t compete with large-capacity plants.
• Processing of hemp for such uses as energy pellets and fibre for clothing.
• Bio-diesel
• Hunting industry
• Landscape
• Feeding and processing of livestock.
• Pembina Valley Development Corporation (PVDC) is pursuing a potato vodka plant.
• Need to quit growing cheap food and focus on different uses of land for greater profitability – MAFRI should be called Manitoba Agriculture, Energy and Rural Initiatives.
• Market gardens and organic food production.
• Service providers for trucking industry.
• Redevelopment of existing flour mill and straw board plant at Elie.
• Reduction of input costs to increase returns on grain commodities.
• Changes to crop rotation to reduce fertilizer inputs.
• Woodlots can be an additional source of income to the landowner.
• Using the lure of highspeed Internet to attract computer based business to rural communities.
• Capitalize on proximity to U.S.A. border and Winnipeg markets.
• Decentralization of specialized health services to existing facilities in rural Manitoba.
• Organization and collaboration between smallscale sawmills (co-op development).

What is preventing the area from taking advantage of these opportunities?

• Too many regulations, especially related to tourism.
• Need more common sense when applying regulations, and regulations need to be tailored to areas rather than “blanket” the province.
• Interprovincial trade barriers
• Need more co-operation between government departments.
• Government employees need to be available when needed.
• More decision-making needs to be devolved to local government.
• Government needs to support bio-diesel.
• Need to explore other options for the use of Crown lands, but endangered species and flyways could be a barrier.
• Communities may need to share resources, because individual communities may not be able to survive on their own.
• Roads need to be improved, with lower ditches and higher roads.
• MTS will not bring DSL to small towns and rural residences.
• The Boyne River Dam is short of money and government bureaucracy is an impediment.
• Difficulties gaining access to cash flow and capital funding.
• Need equity financing for processing plants.
• Young people and farmers are leaving in search of better money and employment, with some areas feeling the effects of this more than others.
• Need more accredited education facilities (highschool and postsecondary) to replace workers being attracted to the provinces and provide skills needed in area, and so that people do not need to go to Winnipeg for apprenticeship training.
• There is a shortage of skilled labour and even general labour.
• Attracting people from urban areas to small towns.
• Need education and community awareness of what is available in the community.
• Need community sponsorship for all professionals – healthcare workers are easier to recruit than some other professionals.
• Need more professional job opportunities.
• “Perimeteritis”
• Need more sponsored immigrants and encouragement for new immigrants to settle in rural Manitoba, but need to retain immigrants in rural areas, prevent them from just using a rural community as a stepping stone.
• Need more full-time provincial settlement workers.
• It is difficult for small communities to accommodate some religions and cultures.
• Affordable housing is desperately needed.
• Lack of funds for food processing development.
• Need access to expertise, and further processing and marketing capital for new wheat, flax and hemp seed initiatives.
• Need processing facility for beans.
• Food processing regulations
• Lack of assistance one step further than FDC.
• Lack of marketing skills
• Need diversification of activities to support new hotels, etc. by maintaining a constant level of business year round.
• High value of Canadian dollar.
• Need drainage initiatives to promote proper water management and to reduce the risk for special crops, but water management is a sensitive issue.
• Need to find uses for inedible byproducts of livestock processing.
• Motels need to be filled by workers, not only vacationers.
• Need to find market for recyclables - not all are profitable.
 

SUPPORTS

Communities, industry and government can support value-added development in a number of ways.

What can the community and industry do to promote and support the development of value-added opportunities?

• Increase understanding of government support (available programs).
• Encourage the involvement of all levels of government.
• Protect small companies from multinationals.
• Assist small companies to access information.
• Seek private investors.
• Find ways to keep people in southern Manitoba.
• Improve the local quality of life, provide activities for young people and services for babyboomers.
• Develop an entrepreneurial mindset in youth through Junior Achievement and 4-H.
• Create agricultural awareness in consumers.
• Avoid an urban versus rural mentality.
• Promote purchasing locally and supporting local businesses.
• Communities need to work together to promote themselves as a package.
• Promote events in other communities.
• Municipalities can support new businesses by providing tax incentives.
• Incentives are needed to promote new business development.
• Need to balance tourism with a healthy business community - both are equal priorities.
• Communities should work together and share in the benefits through initiatives like tax sharing programs.

Which government activities would be the most effective in supporting value-added development?

• Facilitate connections between investors and entrepreneurs.
• There could be easier access to, and increased awareness of, grants.
• Some government programs could be simplified, or made to be more supportive of local businesses.
• Removal of trade barriers, both interprovincial and international.
• Make it easier for livestock operations to expand.
• Some government departments could be less active or aggressive in regulation.
• Increase government R&D programs – government needs to be ahead of its clients, with R&D available to support new ideas such as agri-energy production.
• Support agricultural programs at local universities in return for access to research information.
• Bring professors to rural Manitoba to deliver courses.
• Train more people locally.
• Speed up feasibility studies and other government processes, while decreasing regulations and matching American tax incentives to encourage R&D activities and enable Manitoba’s bio-diesel industry to compete with the American industry.
• Improve interdepartmental communication.
• Communities could support trades with tax incentives.
• Offer tax break for expansion of existing businesses.
• Promote functional foods to consumers.
• Increase immigration to bring in more tradespeople.
• Reverse the decline in rural wages.
• Increase the agricultural awareness of consumers.
• Support communications infrastructure, in co-operation with communications service providers, to provide access to affordable highspeed Internet for rural residents.
• Assist with business management and marketing of products.
• Provide tax incentives for bio-diesel industry.
• Investigate opportunities to sell carbon credits, with benefits to producers and industry.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship drives value-added development and innovation.

What specific efforts or programs are currently being pursued in this region to support entrepreneurial development?

• Efforts to promote entrepreneurship
• Attraction of private investors
• Community loans program
• Community incentives, such as tax holiday for new businesses.
• MCED tax credit
• PVDC, Sunbelt and Triple R promote development.
• Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corporation (MACC now MASC) and Farm Credit Corporation (FCC) have supported golf course.
• Rural Entrepreneurial Assistance (REA)
• Community Investment Support Program (CISP)
• Hiring an economic development Officer.
• Export Development Corporation (EDC)
• 50/50 cost-sharing programs are beneficial.
• REDI was a good program but there is no money in it at present.
• Questionable support to grain producers.
• Help with preparation of business plans.
• Community funded medical centre and medical student sponsorship.
• Job shadowing or two week job placements for youth to increase their exposure to business owners in the community.
• Youth are encouraged to be business owners, not just doctors and nurses.

How can entrepreneurial development be better supported?

• Developing networks between entrepreneurs and financial sources.
• Identification of alternative financial sources.
• Providing access to capital
• Tax credits
• Target youths at a young age, with programs that move as fast as the youth.
• Teaching entrepreneurship in highschool, and encourage youth to take risks. 
• Provide more resources in the schools, aimed at helping students decide what they want to do after graduation. 
• Offer seasonal youth entrepreneur programs. 
• Provide business grants for providing business education to students. 
• Offer business management skills and resources. 
• Offer incentives equal to those that are offered by Alberta’s economy.
• Work to correct misconceptions of rural and agriculture. 
• Promote success stories and availability of grant money. 
• Investors need to provide infrastructure like buildings, perhaps they could be attracted by offering tax credits or incentives to support this type of investment. 
• Government intervention, when necessary, must still allow entrepreneurs to be flexible and not impose restrictions on new businesses as conditions for offering funding, guarantees or incentives. 
• If government is not providing assistance, it should not be a hindrance. 
• The approval process for government programs needs to speed up. 
• Government needs to define its role, especially in economic development. 
• Offer “one-stop shopping” for all government programs.
• Stop the duplication of government services, at all levels of government. 
• Rationalize the economic development services. 
• Require local consideration for cattle operations. 
• Apply regulations equally to farm and non-farm situations.