Manitoba spends 'a whole lotta bread' to find new markets for cereal grains during tariff war

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 10, 2025 2:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Manitoba is putting $13 cardinal to the improvement of a $102-million atom tech facility in Winnipeg's Exchange District that volition link Canadian cereals producers with caller planetary partners.

"This is truly astir showcasing our ag manufacture astatine a clip erstwhile Canada perfectly needs to diversify our trading partners," Premier Wab Kinew said astatine a quality league Thursday wrong the Cereals Canada offices astatine 303 Main St.

"This is simply a bully semipermanent concern successful ensuring the backbone of our occidental Canadian economy, oregon Manitoba economy, is going to enactment strong. We're looking for much places to bash business."

Cereals Canada is taking the reins connected developing the Global Agriculture Technology Exchange (GATE), which volition have research and innovation abstraction for specialty milling, a aviator bakery, pasta extrusion and training and bureau space.

"GATE volition elevate the Canadian atom manufacture to caller levels of excellence and planetary competitiveness by positioning itself arsenic a world-class state-of-the-art facility," said Cereals Canada CEO Dean Dias.

"By providing planetary buyers with value-added method cognition and expertise, we volition proceed to maintain Canada's enactment arsenic a trusted, accordant supplier of high-quality cereals."

The facility will bring clients from astir the satellite to downtown Winnipeg to larn however they tin usage occidental Canadian grains "to marque their bread, their granola bars, their ramen and truthful galore different products," Kinew said.

"We heard astir this task and we said, you cognize what, we request to get down determination and we're going to bring a full lotta bread.

"We're talking astir concern successful downtown and an concern successful our ag industry. It sounds similar a win-win to me."

Many questions astir it stay unanswered, though.

It's not wide if the installation would beryllium located wrong an existing gathering oregon a caller one, and determination is besides nary known timeline for its development, which is inactive acold from raising the $102 cardinal that is required.

"A piece of land" has been identified but nary agreements person been signed, truthful it can't yet beryllium identified, Dias said.

Aside from the Manitoba commitment, Cereals Canada has put successful $5 cardinal and farmers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec person agreed to rise $13.5 million.

"We're inactive a agelong mode from determination but we are moving connected it," said Dias.

The national authorities has not yet travel to the table, and won't portion successful the midst of an election. But Kinew called Manitoba's publication a awesome "to whoever comes retired of this predetermination campaign, that province of Manitoba is serious."

He called Manitoba's $13 cardinal "a down payment" if the national authorities is consenting to divided the outgo into thirds, with the different spouse being the ag industry.

"This is simply a blueprint for however Manitoba and Canada are going to beryllium capable to get done these turbulent times," Kinew said, referring to U.S. tariffs and the commercialized war.

"It's by moving together, it's by gathering connected those areas wherever we're already strong, and it's beryllium making definite that nationalist concern is matching the backstage sector's enthusiasm and creativity."