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From left: Portage Regional Economic Development’s Vern May, R.M. of Portage Reeve Kam Blight, Portage & District Chamber of Commerce president Preston Meier and Portage Mayor Irvine Ferris. Photos by Darcy Finley
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slimming foods, senior nutrition and clinical nutrition. The investment makes sense from a geographical perspective as Canada is the world’s largest producer of peas, with about 30 per cent of total global production. When Roquette made its announcement last January, it said Portage bested about 40 other Canadian and U.S. locations because of the vast amounts of field peas, a highly- skilled labour force and a “great business environment.” It didn’t hurt that the pot was sweetened with $6.8 million in provincial and municipal tax-increment financing and another $2.5 million from the Growing Forward program, a joint initiative between the federal and provincial governments. With this kind of development comes some problems, but city officials are only too happy to deal with them. For example, the expected influx of new workers is going to put more pressure on a housing sector already bursting at the seams. A new project by Vancouver-based Seymour Pacific is in the sub-division process for two apartment blocks and a series of townhouses that will add 168 more units in town. “Portage la Prairie has maintained a very static existence over the last 25 years. People are still reeling from the decisions a generation ago to close the military base and Campbell Soup announced it was closing its plant,” Meier says. Then there’s workforce development. The plant won’t reach its potential if it can’t find the right people to hire, so May is working with Portage Collegiate Institute, the city’s high school, and the local campus of Red River College on offering a certificate program in agri-foods. “We want to fill the gaps between the school curriculum and workforce readiness. From what we’re hearing now, the kids are book smart but not necessarily workforce-ready.” ■
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december 2017
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