6 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Celebrating 75 GROUNDBREAKING years in 2018
CAPITAL REGION: ARE WE REALLY OPEN FOR BUSINESS? BY COLLEEN SKLAR
T he recent Amazon HQ2 proposal has sparked conversations across the capital region. From the boardroom to the dinner table, Manitobans are talking about what we really have to offer to entice major businesses to move here. As someone who loves this province, our capital region strengths are evident and the benefits of locating here come without saying. But if you don’t know this place like someone who was born and raised here, is our “value proposition” really that clear? The exercise of taking inventory of our collective strengths and documenting our shortcomings, which is what I think we did in our Amazon pitch, is a real opportunity. For decades, municipalities have been operating in a system that drives competition and provides no adequate mechanisms for collaboration, leaving us at a disadvantage. Since 1998, local leaders in Winnipeg and the surrounding municipalities have been chipping away at the edges of status quo, trying to follow successful examples that have moved other jurisdictions from merely coping to creating regional systems that combine and leverage their strengths to boost competitiveness. What we have learned from others who have been successful at working together across municipal boundaries is that regional coordination is not another level of government. It does not add a whack of permits or more forms to fill out. Contrary to dire predictions, it doesn’t grease the slope to contentious annexations or forced amalgamations. In fact, in many jurisdictions cooperative, flexible inter-municipal coordination is the way around this. Regional coordination has also proven to be very effective in ensuring social, economic and environmental resources are harnessed for the well-being of all. Regional coordination allows us to be good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, to plan better, to design and build better infrastructure, to maximize stretched budgets by avoiding duplication of efforts. The quality of services is improved and processes streamlined, attracting good jobs and investment.
This common-sense approach can also help us build better partnerships with federal, provincial and Indigenous governments, as well as with the businesses and industries that provide services, products and jobs. A coordinated approach for Winnipeg and the capital region is an opportunity to package our collective strengths and flip the open-for- business sign on — together. Our region has no shortage of strengths; located in the centre of North America, we have extensive trade corridors connecting us across Canada and to the United States and Mexico. We have CentrePort Canada, North America’s largest inland port. Along with our transportation and logistics opportunities, we have some of the world’s best agricultural lands and productive capacity, abundant freshwater resources, low-cost renewable hydropower and a diverse and highly skilled workforce.
by Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, is a partnership of 15 metro region municipalities to create a shared regional economic development strategy to boost investment and jobs for the region. The organizing principle of shared investment/shared reward leaves competition behind, for a greater return when local leaders shift from a zero-sum game strategy. Across North America there are 350 metro regions working together to build their value proposition. Those similar to the scale of our metro region are collaborating on economic development, roads and transportation infrastructure, public transportation and land-use planning. Manitoba’s capital region is competing against this reality. We have to work together to succeed. Often, what investors are looking for can only be delivered by the breadth of what a region can offer. We can no longer just pay lip service to regional collaboration. We must do it if we are to keep the social, economic and environmental security we have become accustomed to. Otherwise, we fall behind. Leaders from the capital region have been working hard on the challenging task of regional planning and action. They see that this will promote regional cooperation. It won’t deliver every aspect of municipal operations together, but strategically align efforts where it makes sense to do so — and investment in economic development like Amazon HQ2 has inspired us to put our best foot forward. This work is in progress, but leaders could use a little help from provincial and federal governments, business and industry, NGOs and associations, in supporting the development of a regional framework. We need an “all hands on deck” approach to design and deliver a regional framework, so we can move faster to build on our strengths and highlight all we have to offer. We have become very good at competing but we may be even better at collaborating. And, who knows, maybe “Winnipeg Global” is not too far off. ❱❱❱
WE HAVE A LOT TO OFFER POTENTIAL INVESTORS LIKE AMAZON, AND INVESTORS WHO HAVE BEEN HERE FOR GENERATIONS AND ARE CONTEMPLATING EXPANSION. BUT LOCAL LEADERS AGREE WE HAVE MORE WORK TO DO.
Colleen Sklar is the executive director of the Partnership of the Manitoba Capital Region.
We have a lot to offer potential investors like Amazon, and investors who have been here for generations and are contemplating expansion. But local leaders agree we have more work to do. We must clearly define, package and build on our strengths to increase our competitiveness if we want to get in the game like our neighbours to the west. Edmonton’s Capital Region Board has just launched its “Edmonton Global.” This new entity, championed
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Obby Khan participated in the video component of Economic Development Winnipeg’s pitch to Amazon.
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