The following notes represent a consolidated record of all group discussions held in Shoal Lake on February 16, 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?

• Extra value (higher prices) for what producers already choose to produce.

• Processing plants for products such as meat, leather, furniture, meal or oil.

• Expansion of existing enterprises

• Flour mills, locally produced pasta and other local processing that eliminates the “middle man”.

• Fractionation of components in crops (fibre, gluten, starches, etc).

• Biodiesel plant for used oils (from food facility or offal from rendering).

• Livestock feeding opportunity, using meal left over from bio-diesel production.

• The use of crops for ethanol and other energy production initiatives.

• Solid fuel pellets, perhaps made from switchgrass.

• New uses for flax straw.

• Wind energy

• Manufacture of wind towers

• Other innovative energy sources

• Producing methane gas that can be used by a generator to provide energy.

• “Green” cemetery with features such as replacing grave markers with GPS coordinates.

• Vegetable crops, perhaps using greenhouses.

• Pet cemetery

• Aquaculture

• Expansion of livestock production

• U-pick beef – consumer picks animal to take to abattoir.

• Processing and marketing of beef, bison, elk and poultry.

• Meat shop

• More hogs

• Omega-3 from eggs

• Twine

• Non-traditional food markets, perhaps to meet demand of immigrant market.

• Nutraceuticals using local vegetation, such as thistles.

• U-pick

• Flower crops

• Beeswax for candles

• Pet products

• Conversion of existing facilities, such as unused PMU barns, to enterprises such as mushroom production and aquaculture.

• Promotion of Manitoba’s quality of life to foreign countries.

• Tourism, including farm tours, tractor rodeo, prairie scenery and fishing.

• Trans Canada Trail

• Bed & breakfasts

• Aeration of lakes for expanded fishing.

• Hunting and guiding, including supply sale and rental, lure crops and sale of hunting rights.

• Development of recreational lots

• Services, such as restaurants, truckwashes, casino, hotels.

• Services catering to semi-trucks, motor homes and other highway traffic, especially on #16 (the Yellowhead Route).

• Nursing homes

• Centralized garages and offices for school divisions.

• Immigrants

• Youth retention

• Mentoring

• People moving back to rural areas from cities.

• Sale of carbon credits, under Kyoto Accord initiatives.

• Capitalize on our low cost hydro.

• English immersion classes

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

• Lack of time

• Small population

• Geography and climate

• Community economic development requires broader horizons and is too constricting, inhibiting progress.

• Canadian Wheat Board

• Low grain prices are dooming entire communities.

• Finances

• Lack of access to capital.

• Access to markets and market information - could use government help with marketing.

• Distance and location of markets.

• Availability of shipping and containers.

• Lack of access to technology.

• Shortage of local literacy, educational, and training programs and facilities.

• Due to economics, farmers protect niche markets and cannot share ideas.

• Lack of local expertise, skilled human resources.

• Competition with other industries for workers.

• Need to think “outside the box”.

• Lack of awareness of Manitoba.

• Housing problems

• Inadequate infrastructure, including poor maintenance of roads and railroads, lack of highspeed Internet.

• Manitoba Hydro needs to restructure their method of selling power.

• Inaction on the part of the federal government.

• Misinformation from Statistics Canada

• Government moves slowly, grant dollars are slow to arrive and approvals hinder progress.

• Lack of commitment to rural Manitoba by government.

• Government regulations, such as those aimed at reducing phosphate and nitrogen fertilizer use, have an impact on farming.

• Government process hindered by regulations that slow the process for entering expanding industries to the point where advantage is lost.

• Double standard of government, allowing cities to dump raw sewage while overregulating use of manure by farmers.

• Government needs to change the focus of policy and research, from food to energy crops, and facilitate the licencing of crop varieties for ethanol and bio-diesel.

• Policy makers are making decisions that minimize risks with no basis, such as requiring a 30’ setback for manure use instead of 0’.

• Policy makers suffer from “perimeteritis.”

• Structure of provincial programs, including restrictive, inflexible criteria.

• Lack of communication, understanding and flexibility between government departments.

• Lack of business-focused grants and programs for expansion of existing businesses.

• Lack of funds for feasibility studies.

• Environmental regulations are a barrier to intensive livestock operations.

• “Red tape” of municipal bylaws.

• Planning regulations at municipal level are not co-ordinated and flexible with different government departments; plans have to cater to provincial stipulations.

• Balancing tourism with agricultural (especial intensive livestock expansion) land uses.

• Not attracting high-end tourists who are big spenders.

• Lack of services catering to tourists, such as restaurants and service stations.

• Maintaining the Trans Canada Trail is hindered by lack of funding, the need for better intergovernmental co-operation, and the need for specialist promotional and financial help.

• Poor customer service, lack of co-operation to keep services open for tourists on holidays.

• NIMBY – “not in my back yard” opposition to new developments by neighbouring residents.

• "Risk-free” society, fewer risk-takers.

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?

• Be open, flexible and more positive in supporting business.

• Mentoring

• Local support of value-added business.

• Need to celebrate, encourage and support success.

• Develop products that can only be produced locally, and which can be sold to the Asian market.

• Provide skilled labour

• Encourage young people to enter trades.

• Encourage loyalty to local, rural businesses.

• Community development corporations (CDCs) can prepare an inventory of business that will help young entrepreneurs.

• Preparation of community plan and community vision.

• Rural municipalities need to co-operate regionally to share human resources and tax revenue.

• Tax sharing agreements, to promote intermunicipal co-operation.

• Tax incentives to support industrial development.

• Communication of needs and opportunities between provincial and municipal governments, private businesses and consumers.

• Municipalities could support feedlots, feedmills, etc.

• Encourage sustainable livestock populations.

• Ensure that local bylaws and regulatory approvals support opportunities.

• Initiate co-operation among producers.

• Balance lifestyle and development.

• Promote regional cooperation.

• Encourage understanding of the needs of industries.

• Identify legitimate players in emerging industries.

• Promote industry partnerships.

• Industries can be less adversarial to new industries that may compete with them.

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

• Stop promoting regionalization at the expense of working relationship with local communities.

• Improve highways, including accessibility and paving of shoulders.

• Improve highway regulations and enforcement.

• Reduce financial burden to rural municipalities, caused by heavy seasonal use.

• Letting local abattoirs expand to accommodate local support.

• Change regulations to allow producers to raise, kill and market beef on their farm.

• Promote agriculture in both urban and rural areas.

• Provide funding to help young farmers become established - parents may be incapable of helping.

• Offer incentives for young people who are buying farms or businesses, and help with the smooth transfer of ownership.

• Provide business support, such as that provided by the Food Development Centre (FDC)

• Ensure access to technology.

• Provide financing, programs and grants to help existing businesses expand.

• Provide grants geared to smaller businesses.

• Better promotion of programs through more personal methods, such as phone calls, emails, coffee shop meetings.

• Provide or simplify access to capital, review security commission challenges.

• Increase maximum loan available under Community Works Loan Program (CWLP).

• Improve tax credits for local investment, value-added initiatives and biofuel, and increase the flexibility of the CED tax credit.

• Tax credits for start-up years.

• Lower personal taxes and PST, and eliminate payroll taxes.

• Change the municipal assessment process so that there is no penalty for home improvements.

• Offer a school tax rebate to small businesses.

• If government is going to participate in programs, it is necessary to expedite the process.

• Government needs to work out details and criteria prior to participating in a program.

• Better federal-provincial communication regarding needs of agricultural community.

• Better access to federal departments and offices.

• Research policy differences between the U.S.A. and Canada.

• Amalgamate local government, promote trust and sharing.

• Make it easier and quicker for students to get their trades, and provide alternative ways for students to challenge journeyman.

• Provide education on entrepreneurship at the highschool level, teach students “business smarts.”

• Provide education on technical issues and opportunities.

• Provide a resource person (champion).

• Develop provincial standards for bio-diesel, and form a regulatory agency.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship drives value-added development and innovation.

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

• Education needs are being met through Canadian Agricultural Skills Service (CASS).

• Grants for local agricultural training keep people at home.

• Schools support Junior Achievement (JA), teaching entrepreneurial skills.

• CDCs

• Regional Development Corporations

• Economic Development Officers

• CWLP

• Wheatbelt CFDC

• FDC in Portage la Prairie

• Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council

• Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC)

• Farm Credit Corporation (FCC)

• CED Tax Credit

• Sustainable Development Innovations Fund

• Agri-Food Research Development Initiative (ARDI)

• Young entrepreneurs program (YEP) for youth under 30.

• Self-employment income program

• 4-H leadership development

• Mentorship

• Knowledge is being shared between municipalities, communities and tourism associations.

• Conservation districts

• Credit union and banks

• Chambers of Commerce

• Agriculture in the Classroom

• Highschool curriculum includes co-operative education, work experience, business plans.

• Effort to have natural gas provided to the community.

• Training of presently employed staff to qualify them for management positions.

How can entrepreneurial development be better supported?

• Government could lobby utilities for upgrades, such as having Hydro provide three-phase power to all areas.

• Providing infrastructure such as utilities and highspeed Internet to smaller communities.

• Reassess Community Access Program (CAP), with special attention to computers.

• Reassess job creation programs, with attention to skills development and the age of program users. 

• Support businesses providing in-house training of staff.

• Government could take a more active role.

• Support teams and champions, resource leadership (support from the community) and mentoring.

• More leadership by the federal government.

• Offer more programs for farmers over 40.

• Promote succession to keep people on the farm by giving them a reason to come back to the farm.

• Provide support for succession planning in businesses.

• Provide programs that help tradespersons establish businesses in small communities.

• Retention is as important as growth.

• Wage support to help small businesses and farmers compete with large industries in cities.

• There needs to be less listening and more action.

• Need to stop “passing the buck.”

• Providing more educational opportunities in the Westman region, including a greater variety of agricultural and medical programs at Assiniboine Community College (ACC).

• Promote and provide funding for entrepreneurship and business skills training in schools.

• Teach leadership and public speaking skills.

• Promote and provide funding for trades education.

• Allow local, on-the-job training for tradespeople.

• Sharing resources and information (training), using highspeed Internet.

• Reducing bureaucratic “red tape” at all three levels of government.

• Provide for appeal or a source of resolutions regarding government policy.

• Reduce terms of election to office, to encourage turnover and new ideas.

• Recognize that farming is a lifestyle as well as a business, and that there is a very strong bond.

• Need investment in people not handouts (ex: CASS)

• Rancher’s Choice is available but not everyone has the resources to invest. Would have preferred that two shares be given to every beef producer with the option to invest more if they wanted.

• Provide mentorship and incubators for young entrepreneurs.

• Improve the YEP rules for multiple applications and graduated loans.

• More realistic financial support and assistance for YEP - current programs are too cumbersome.

• Need incentives to attract immigrant entrepreneurship.

• Need templates for business plans for new entrepreneurs.

• Offer tax incentives or a new tax structure that encourages entrepreneurial spirit and development.

• Provide local workshops on entrepreneurial skills.

• Provide programs or grants for farmers to get computers.

• Provide easier access to funding and seed money.

• Provide loans at a competitive rate to entrepreneurs in need of financial assistance.

• Encourage local investors to help entrepreneurs, promote local investment as an alternative to other popular investments such as mutual funds.

• Provide local, community level grants.

• Provide funding for business expansion, offering lower equity and downpayment.

• Celebrate and recognize successes.