Other Manitoba and Saskatchewan Developments

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wonder how many towns and cities in Manitoba are part of that elite club?

Winnipeg
Selkirk
Steinbach
Winkler
Morden
Altona
Portage la Prairie
Brandon
Neepawa
Dauphin
The Pas
Thompson
Flin Flon
and now Swan River?

Am I missing any?

looks like Altona closed in 2015.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

looks like Altona closed in 2015.

Wow, I'm amazed. That has to be a rare thing for a growing town to lose a McDonald's.

It looks like some sort of farm shed... I'm amazed that this was allowed to be a McDonald's in the first place. https://goo.gl/maps/cKSaNnMzhbr86FCn8

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

Herd through grape vine six degrees of sepertion that moosmin is getting a microbrewery

https://www.world-spectator.com/news_story.php?id=3928

[pspeid]

One of the articles about the future solar panel glass factory in Selkirk:

https://winnipegsun.com/news/news-ne...l-ready-status

While this is awesome news for Selkirk and the province in general, I was especially struck by this quote from company president Glenn Laroux:

“The business strategy of integrating our high-quality solar specs, and Manitoba’s inexpensive renewable hydroelectricity, and proximity to our North American customer base through the Winnipeg logistics hub, is a highly attractive business plan that others cannot easily replicate.”

Isn't this what the province has been promoting (and hoping) for some time...affordable Hydro and CentrePort will attract investment? In this case it looks like it has.

[Winnipegger]

I'm by no means a logistics coordinator, but it's my opinion that the potential benefits of CentrePort are somewhat overstated and hyped up by the Province. At face value, yeah, being "in the center of the continent" feels like it would intuitively lower shipping costs, on average, if you are shipping to all ends of the continent equally. But the truth is that if you are a Canadian business, Winnipeg's small market and isolation likely means shipping costs may be higher here if most of your product is going to the GTA, Montreal, or Vancouver.

If you want to supply most of the Canadian market, it's probably more cost-effective to locate in Mississauga near Pearson so you can minimize local shipping costs to Canada's biggest metro plus Montreal, while still having access to cross-country rail and air shipping routes. From there, it's easy access to some of America's biggest markets as well.

But I do think there are a few other things that are a benefit for Manitoba, such as access to cheap and low-skilled labour (yay I guess), low land acquisition costs, low property taxes, and a lack of development fees in Winnipeg. But at the same time, these are probably cancelled out by a smaller pool of highly-skilled labour, inadequate transportation and public transit infrastructure, poor pubic image, and high income taxes for skilled labour.

[esquire]

^ I suspect that corporations know all that, which is why after all these years of effort and failed past attempts (e.g. Winnport), Centreport is still fairly small potatoes. I mean, let's say Centreport as a concept never existed. Would the city look much different? There would probably still be industrial expansion in the NW quadrant. Maybe CentrePort Canada Way wouldn't exist, but beyond that? I'm not sure.

I think to some extent Centreport provides an important PR function to demonstrate the City's/Province's commitment to industry and the transportation sector.

[wags_in_the_peg]

More on the Selkirk solar plant. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/puts-sel...lant-1.6059025

[esquire]

Interesting story in the Free Press yesterday... Robert Andjelic, the former Sun-X industrial park magnate has become the biggest farmland owner in Canada, and apparently the second largest in North America after Bill Gates?

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bu...6/prairie-king

When Robert Andjelic sold his Winnipeg industrial real estate company, Sun-X Properties, in 2007, even he could not have predicted that in the next 15 years he would become the single largest owner of farmland in the country.

The only other person who owns more farmland in North America is Bill Gates, and not by much.

But while Gates’ investment may be a diversification play, Andjelic sees no need to hedge against a potential downturn in the agricultural space.

Asked if he considers investing in other assets, he said, “No. I don’t think you can be in a better industry.”

As a long-term global thinker, Andjelic, 76, is not so much driven by wealth accumulation — his holdings are likely worth at least half a billion dollars — so much as he is committed to bolstering the food production capacity in the Prairies, the strategic importance of which has been emphasized because of the impact the war in Ukraine is having on global food security.

Back when I first joined this forum, there was so little construction activity happening in Winnipeg that Sun-X's industrial stuff was a common topic of conversation, ha

[thurmas]

Both mayoral candidates in Winkler mayoral election debate yesterday open to setting up transit system for Winkler. I would hope they could get a morden Winkler cross town system going.

[esquire]

Is there any sort of system in Morden/Winkler? I wouldn't expect it to be fertile ground for transit, but they're big enough that I could see one local route in each city plus one route connecting the two being a useful amenity.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by esquire

Is there any sort of system in Morden/Winkler? I wouldn't expect it to be fertile ground for transit, but they're big enough that I could see one local route in each city plus one route connecting the two being a useful amenity.

Just a local taxi service. I think a bus from superstore in Winkler to morden and back would be helpful especially for elderly or handicap citizens

[dennis]

This is great news for northern Manitoba and for Winnipeg. Storage of electrical energy will be very important for the future. It is a fast growing industry.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bu...thium-hot-spot

Manitoba could become a lithium hot spot
Economy could get supercharged if province becomes supply centre for critical minerals
Martin Cash
By: Martin Cash
Posted: 6:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022

Grid Metals, a Toronto-based mineral exploration company, is one of about a dozen junior mining companies active in one way or another in exploring for lithium in Manitoba right now.




Grid recently signed an agreement with the Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada Limited (Tanco) to evaluate and potentially process lithium that may be extracted from Grid’s Donner Lake lithium property located about 45 minutes from Tanco’s lithium concentrator near Lac du Bonnet.

The fact that the federal government issued an announcement on Friday indicating it is tightening regulations on foreign state-owned entities (SOE) from owning rights to extract so-called “critical minerals,” is not expected to have any impact on Tanco’s operations.

In 2019, Tanco was acquired by the Sinomine Resource Group Co., Ltd., a large Chinese mining company whose shares trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with assets around the world.

Laurie Bouchard, senior manager, communications for Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, said that the new regulations are not retroactive and only pertain to new deals as they arise.

Bill Curry, vice-president of Tanco’s North America business division, said not only is his company not affected by the new federal government initiative, it is planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Manitoba to build a new mill and potentially a lithium processing operation.

The price of lithium has doubled in the last year, and in a recent report McKinsey & Company said the battery industry’s demand for lithium is expected to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 25 per cent from 2020 to 2030.

Grid Metals also has a potential nickel property in Manitoba, but Robin Dunbar, the company’s CEO, said, “Nickel is a very important metal (it is another input in battery manufacturing), but it is a more established industry. Whereas it is a bit of a wild west in lithium. People are scrambling to get projects up and running.”

Sinomine put Tanco back in the lithium game at the end of last year and now employs about 150 people after production was suspended in 2009. (The Tanco mine is also the world’s largest producer of cesium, another of the critical minerals highlighted by Friday’s federal government foreign ownership crackdown.)

“To seize the opportunities of lithium’s surging market, Sinomine decided to renovate and restore the 400 tonnes per day spondumene processing system in early 2021, aiming to transform the resources advantage into economic advantage,” a company release in October said.

Currently, Tanco ships lithium concentrate to a sister company in China, but Curry said, “We are interested in building out the lithium supply chain in North America.”
“We’re at a crossroads on new investments and new opportunities and the province really signalled at PDAC (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) this year that this a priority for it,” said John Morris, director of the Mining Association of Manitoba.

Since Sinomine’s ownership of Tanco pre-dates the federal government’s clampdown of SOE owning critical minerals in Canada, it is not an issue as far as Tanco is concerned, he said.

Manitoba has nine of the 31 critical minerals on the federal government’s list.

“In that sense it could have some potential impact with respect to new investments coming from a SOE. The possibility of that happening is hard to speculate. There are projects in various states of development,” Morris said.

Cliff Cullen, minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, said the global efforts to de-carbonize means that Manitoba minerals can play a role in that process

“We have lots of companies doing exploration when it comes to lithium and other minerals,” he said. “It sets us up really well for the future.”

With all the potential lithium development, Cullen said the province is working on a strategy to ensure that it gets its lithium engagement correct.

The province took part in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Snow Lake Lithium and LG Energy Solutions who are looking at the possibility of building a large-scale lithium processing plant in Winnipeg. There are currently no such facilities in North America and would require close to a $1 billion investment.
Sinomine’s plans to build a lithium processing plant does not hinge on whether or not Snow Lake/LG does so as well, Curry said.

As for the SOE crackdown, Cullen said he supports the federal government in its efforts to protect national security. (Actual mineral extraction regulation is a provincial responsibility.)

“As Manitobans have always relied on foreign direct investment, I agree, let’s make sure that it is not another government coming to purchase our minerals. But hats off to the exploration companies willing to invest money in Manitoba,” he said.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by dennis

The province took part in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Snow Lake Lithium and LG Energy Solutions who are looking at the possibility of building a large-scale lithium processing plant in Winnipeg. There are currently no such facilities in North America and would require close to a $1 billion investment.
Sinomine’s plans to build a lithium processing plant does not hinge on whether or not Snow Lake/LG does so as well, Curry said.

This would be the exact type of major client fit for an anchor tenant at CentrePort.

[1ajs]

Brandon brewery built with around 11,000 bricks reclaimed from demolished landmark
Social Sharing

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manit...ndon-1.6700015

A new brewery in the heart of Manitoba's Wheat City is celebrating a new chapter while paying homage to history — one brick at a time.

Brandon's Section 6 Brewing at 1126 Princess Ave. opened to the public on Dec. 3. The new brewery was carefully crafted using reclaimed barn wood and bricks from the recently demolished International Harvester Building, said co-owner and brewmaster Benjamin Loewen.

"It was important to us to make the most of what was available to us," Loewen said. "We love the idea that there is a lot of new pieces to here, but there's a lot of tradition and old parts to here ... I think there's a mingling of the old and new."

When the International Harvester Building was demolished in 2021, Section 6 reached out to see if they could reclaim the bricks. They were able to secure a few truckloads of bricks and kept them in storage until work began on the new brewery building.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Behind a paywall but here is the link:

https://www.brandonsun.com/opinion/2...-downtown-woes

The Brandon Shoppers mall was the start, but the Corral Centre at the north end was the stake through the heart of Brandon's downtown. I remember as a kid going to Brandon the downtown was the place to be.

A couple of highlights:

When reading the report, a number of things jump off the page, starting with a summary of how many businesses and employees have left downtown in the past few years. The report lists 25 businesses and hundreds of jobs that have either been lost or moved to other areas of the city. In reality, the numbers are even higher. There are several businesses not listed, nor are businesses that have reduced staff or transferred them to non-downtown locations. Also missing are businesses that plan to leave their downtown locations when their leases expire.

Final paragraph
It makes me wonder if the better, more affordable long-term solution for downtown Brandon is a wrecking ball, a bulldozer and a new vision for a safer, more modern downtown.

[esquire]

Brandon just made the same mistakes that Winnipeg did, except years later.

I remember visiting Brandon in the late 90s and downtown was still in pretty good shape. The main drag looked busy, the mall was hopping. But 10 years later after the Corral opened, it was a different story. It was much less vibrant. And when I went there last year, post-pandemic... wow. It's awful now.

I have always maintained that Brandon still has the bones to have a spectacular small-city downtown. It could be the best one anywhere on the prairies. But I guess some people like want to bring in the bulldozers to eliminate even the possibility of that happening.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by esquire

Brandon just made the same mistakes that Winnipeg did, except years later.

I remember visiting Brandon in the late 90s and downtown was still in pretty good shape. The main drag looked busy, the mall was hopping. But 10 years later after the Corral opened, it was a different story. It was much less vibrant. And when I went there last year, post-pandemic... wow. It's awful now.

I have always maintained that Brandon still has the bones to have a spectacular small-city downtown. It could be the best one anywhere on the prairies. But I guess some people like want to bring in the bulldozers to eliminate even the possibility of that happening.

You're right the bones are there but the land developers got ahold of city council and that was it.

Now that I think of something similar happened to my hometown. They built the new community centre (combo Hockey, curling, fitness, bowling, and convention hall) on the outskirts of town. Yes its only about 5 blocks from the main drag but its across the tracks and might as well be on the moon. The downtown is deader than dead now whereas before when the rink as just off mainstreet it was able to influence traffic to take in the downtown.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

You're right the bones are there but the land developers got ahold of city council and that was it.

Now that I think of something similar happened to my hometown. They built the new community centre (combo Hockey, curling, fitness, bowling, and convention hall) on the outskirts of town. Yes its only about 5 blocks from the main drag but its across the tracks and might as well be on the moon. The downtown is deader than dead now whereas before when the rink as just off mainstreet it was able to influence traffic to take in the downtown.

Not many cities and towns in Manitoba are actually developing their main streets and downtown areas. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Steinbach announced that their new arena is going up next to the existing area instead of way out on the highway somewhere.

Selkirk has been doing a decent job in recent years. Morden is OK too. But it's a short list of places doing good work.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by esquire

Not many cities and towns in Manitoba are actually developing their main streets and downtown areas. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Steinbach announced that their new arena is going up next to the existing area instead of way out on the highway somewhere.

Selkirk has been doing a decent job in recent years. Morden is OK too. But it's a short list of places doing good work.

I would suspect that the corral centre (walmart, home depot) also did a number on Downtown when it was developed in ~2005. There was still life in the downtown retail scene at the time despite the Shoppers Mall having a few big box anchors.

[thebasketballgeek]

I really hope more small towns and cities in Manitoba try to develop their city centres while they’re still small towns. It would only take like 10-20 years to make all these places walkable if there was a concerted effort.