Premier eager to grow Manitoba economy

Manitoba's Premier joined his colleagues from across Canada in writing a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month.
    
What they tried to point out, explained Wab Kinew, was that various infrastructure programs that power our economy, are items the provinces and feds need to work together on.

"What we saw from the Trudeau Government in Ottawa is, effectively, a lot of these programs being designed by themselves," said the Premier. "And when you're talking about Toronto or Ottawa, requiring a four-plex be built in every municipality might make sense. But when we bring that over to the Pembina Valley, is that the right priority or should we be talking first about wastewater infrastructure or some of the economic needs?"

Kinew added, seeing as the Province has good relationship with municipalities, they are asking the federal government to meet them at that level and recognize that the best decisions for all of Manitoba will be made closer to home.

Meantime, the Manitoba Government has sent one of its own on a federally led trade mission to South Korea. 

Advanced Education and Training minister, Renée Cable's, trip follows a successful mission by the Province to Washington, D.C.

The goal with this second mission, noted Knew, is similar to the first - to maintain strong relationships with Manitoba's important trade partners.

"As it stands right now, when we're talking about soy, oilseeds, canola, pork, the South Korean market is very significant to us," he explained. 

As well, the Premier feels there's an opportunity to bring some of the tech and advanced manufacturing that's happening in South Korea, to the Keystone province. 

"Our Cabinet minister is there sharing the good message that we have about our province's economy, and then working and taking meetings and trying to attract some of that investment to Manitoba from South Korea so, again, we can continue growing the economy for our residents."