MBiz

14 WINTER 2024 G eography has always been in Manitoba's favour when it comes to trade. Friendliness has always been in Manitoba's favour when it comes to doing business. Combine the two and you have a foundation for supply chain success. Despite decades of sometimes literal roadblocks, Manitoba has been busy now that it's finally realizing its potential as a critical component of Canada's sup- ply chain — and a big player in international trade. But, as always, the keystone province fondly re- ferred to as the centre of Canada remains humble. "We're not really good at bragging," says Rick Reid, CEO of Supply Chain Manitoba, the country's largest association of supply chain professionals, which provides education and training to over 5,000 members. "Up here, it seems like there are a lot of people doing their busi- ness and being successful at it, but they don't really want to talk about it. I respect that, but it does kind of leave an impression that there's not a lot going on here when in fact there's quite a bit." Even "quite a bit" feels like an understatement when you check in with CentrePort Canada. In just 15 years, the tri-modal inland port based in Winnipeg and Rosser has gone from vast rural land to a multifunctional gateway to more than 100 million consumers. With the support of all three levels of government along with private investors, CentrePort has already been able to turn thousands of its 20,000 acres of land into industri- al space that hundreds of com- panies use as a home base while they flow their goods into the hub and out to the world via rail, truck or plane. Essentially, CentrePort is not only ensuring Manitoba is part of the conversation about supply chains but leading it — creating jobs and boosting its GDP along the way. "It really is a testament to if you get smart infrastructure invested in and in place, private industry will respond by investing rapidly," says Carly Edmundson, CEO of CentrePort Canada. "I think historically this whole 'Chicago of the North' and being at the intersection of two rivers and those key pieces of the puzzle have set us up to be a key place to move goods around the world. It was really the business communi- ty that came together and said it's time to reinvigorate this idea of us being this trade hub in the middle of the continent." CLEARING A PATH TO SUCCESS MANITOBA'S CENTRAL LOCATION AND TRANSPORT INTEGRATION GIVE THE SUPPLY CHAIN AN EDGE BY LINDSEY WARD CLEARING A PATH TO SUCCESS Rick Reid, CEO of Supply Chain Manitoba PHOTO BY DARCY FINLEY Nick Hays, CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority SUBMITTED PHOTO Chris Avery, CEO of Arctic Gateway Group SUBMITTED PHOTO 14 WINTER 2024

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