Chamber envisions Winnipeg as world marketplace
Updated: October 17 at 03:19 PM CDT
When times are tough globally, it's time to strike locally.
It's not the new motto for the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, but it forms the backbone of its new three-year strategic plan that focuses on making the city a world marketplace.
Through its 'Selling Winnipeg to the World' campaign, the city's private sector will identify companies outside Manitoba that are considering opening, expanding or relocating their businesses and then sell them on the merits of Winnipeg, chamber president and CEO Dave Angus said.
"It's time to be bold, ... it's time to increase our economic capacity in the city," he said.
Manitoba has proven in recent weeks that it can withstand an economic storm, and it's time to get that message out, he said, adding the most recent manufacturing statistics have the province going against the national downward trend.
"We're shielded by some of this. The diversity of our economy is going to protect us," said Angus.
To help kick-start the plan, the city needs a signature project that can put Winnipeg on the map globally, Angus said, and the inland-port vision centred on the James Richardson airport is just such the project.
"This gets us on the radar screen," he said.
New chamber chair Jeffrey Hartry said the inland port, the longer shipping seasons in Churchill and Northwest Passage, Manitoba's place in the North America Trade Corridor and the city's historic place as a rail hub all play roles in attracting more companies.
"This is a great opportunity to link all these things," he said. Developing a comprehensive vision for Winnipeg and how the city fits into the world is the second key component to Friday's strategic plan announcement.
Called Vision Winnipeg (
www.visionwinnipeg.com), the chamber will be holding public discussions that will define who residents are as Winnipeggers and where they want to stand on arts, culture, sports, human rights, urban renewal, aboriginal issues and economically.
It's essentially a blueprint for the city's future, Angus said. "We want to know what kind of city their kids are going to inherit."
Today's announcement closes the book on the previous three-year strategic plan. In 2005, the chamber set the goal of 2,008 members by 2008. It exceeded that mark in June and now has 2,016 members, a growth of 25 per ceent over the three years.
Hartry, the director of quality systems and information at Cangene Corporation, was introduced as the chamber's new chair Friday morning.
Source: Winnipeg Free Press
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