[RTD]

The Detroit of the Prairies?
MLA makes pitch for Tata auto assembly plant in city
By: Larry Kusch

Winnipeg Free Press

8/04/2010



If Alabama can build automobiles, why not Manitoba?

That's the attitude of NDP backbench MLA Bidhu Jha, who is leading a push to persuade Indian automotive giant Tata Motors to build a North American version of its cute Nano car -- or any other model -- in Winnipeg.

The mechanical engineer, who has owned his own business and worked as an international trade and business development consultant, may have an in with the company. He once worked as an engineer for Tata in Jamshedpur, India, before emigrating to Canada 35 years ago.

Jha, the province's special envoy for international trade, said that before 1997, when Mercedes-Benz began producing cars in Alabama, there was not a single automobile manufacturing job in that state.

Now, according to the Alabama Development Office in Montgomery, Ala., there are 35,000 people employed in the sector. Hyundai, Honda and Toyota have joined Mercedes in setting up shop there, as have a host of auto manufacturing suppliers.

Alabama's success shows that God didn't preordain that all North American automobile manufacturing would be located in Detroit or Windsor, the MLA for Radisson said. "Somebody started with a vision."

Manitoba shouldn't feel inferior to anyone, Jha argues. It already successfully manufacturers buses, is home to a thriving aerospace industry, has a highly skilled labour force and plenty of land and cheap electricity. He said Red River College has already assured him that it could quickly offer special courses in automobile manufacturing.

The Nano, which looks like a Smart Car but costs only $2,500, is inexpensive because it contains absolutely no frills. It's just basic transportation -- and very easy on gas. Tata is said to be interested, at some point, in locating a manufacturing plant in North America.

Jha was part of small Manitoba trade delegation that went to India last summer and met with senior members of Tata, as well as with other companies. The delegation also included representatives from the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association and the provincial government.

Diane Gray, now president of CentrePort Canada, Winnipeg's inland port initiative, participated in her then-role as Manitoba's deputy minister of trade. She cautioned Wednesday that the delegation's discussions with Tata -- India's largest corporation -- were more of a get-acquainted session. She said forging business partnerships often takes years.

"It would be very premature to say that Tata is considering any investment in Manitoba at this time. That would not be true. We do not know that. And we have not made a formal pitch to them to assemble or build anything here," she said.

But Jha and others in Manitoba have continued to court Tata, inviting the company's top Canadian official to Manitoba last fall and meeting informally with senior officials from India in Toronto in February. Last week, Jha travelled to Virginia to meet with the head of Tata's North American operations, who had previously visited Winnipeg.

Dave Angus, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said he was pleased with the results of the trade mission in India last summer. He said the Manitoba group met with "very senior" officials with Tata Motors and presented the case for Winnipeg and Manitoba as a manufacturing hub.