The Premier’s priorities
By Dorothy Dobbie
It is countdown time for Premier Heather Stefanson who is hurrying to get her government’s exciting agenda on the record before the blackout period preceding the fall election. People need and deserve to know where the government is heading before the heat of the campaign takes over.
Several important announcements occurred in the final week of July.
The Critical minerals initiative: removing harmful roadblocks to development
The first was the critical minerals initiative. If that sounds like gobbledygook to you, let me explain. Critical minerals are all those resources underground needed to power a modern world – minerals such as lithium, cesium, graphite, cobalt, nickel . . .there are 31 such minerals on the list and our province is home to 29 of them. EV batteries are made of graphite, aluminum, nickel, copper, steel, lithium, iron, manganese and cobalt – we have them all.
Premier Stefanson said, “We are seeing levels of investment in lithium, copper, and zinc that haven’t been seen in Manitoba for 50 years.” This is due not only to the burgeoning demand for lithium batteries to power electric cars but to a new, growth-oriented Manitoba government. The announcement on July 25 outlined the government’s strategy to support and capitalize on our resources while opening economic opportunities for all Manitobans and especially for Indigenous communities in the north. Over the past two years since Premier Stefanson took office, mineral exploration in Manitoba grew from $67 million in 2020 to $99.2 million in 2021, and $170 million in 2022, the highest level of exploration expenditures in the history of the province.
The strategy includes modernizing access to information for investors and businesses; incentives, education and training to encourage Indigenous participation; more staffing and better geoscience information and software; support for skills development; and a critical streamlining of the regulatory and permitting process, focusing on timeliness and adding electronic map staking. Value added processing and manufacturing are a key part of the plan, insuring ongoing returns to all of Manitoba.
This strategy is wrapped in an overall plan to build awareness both at home and abroad to encourage more investments and spread the word that we are indeed open for business.
The strategy document will be followed by an action before the end of the year.
A strategy for energy in Manitoba: ensuring we have the power to get us there
The second announcement was a long-awaited strategy initiative from Manitoba Hydro
“Manitoba is done being a ‘have-not’ province,” Premier Heather Stefanson said at the News Conference on July 30. The premier said, “We can’t talk about our economic growth without talking about how we’re going to power that growth. Our government is strengthening Hydro to provide clean, green electricity for our growing economy, and we will ensure it is kept affordable for all Manitobans.” She added, “Manitoba Hydro is not for sale.”
The goal of the strategy is to build on our hydroelectric advantages. Currently, Manitoba Hydro produces about 6,600 megawatts of power (Bipole 3, added only an 11% boost to Manitoba’s power resource) but anticipates needs will grow over the next two decades to 10,000 to 16,000 megawatts. How to meet that need is the challenge. Hydro Board president Edward Kenney mentioned wind power, which became the headline. However, to quote the report, the strategy is broader than that to “initiate low-risk programs or pilot projects to manage peak demand; for example: new space heating technologies: heat pumps, dual electric/gas, storage; and to a assess new resources, storage and fuel options, market evolution and transitions in piped gaseous fuels (natural gas, hydrogen, Renewable Natural Gas).”
This multi-pronged approach makes more sense for Manitoba where severe winter climates make cheap and accessible heating fuel a necessity. Indeed, all provinces other than British Columbia see a defined, limited role for natural gas, which is relatively clean in terms of CO2 emissions. Right now, Manitoba has one of the lowest emitting electricity systems in the world, equal to about 17 hours of CO2 output in China and less than one-third of the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. And that includes our use of natural gas for heating.
The report also sees a “role for independent power producers to provide new energy supply to the grid.” Power generated by these technologies would be sold for redistribution by Manitoba hydro. The plan also envisions newer meters to allow for lower pricing for consumers in off hours.
A new rail line and port for Hudson Bay
Not formally announced but part of an MOU with Alberta and Saskatchewan signed some months ago with our transportation minister, Doyle Piwniuk, is the most exciting development and has the most potential for Manitoba and for Canada. This is the plan to build a railway line feeding off the Northern Gateway (Churchill) line from Amery, just past Gillam, to Port Nelson on Hudson Bay. This line offers the ground stability to handle heavy loads at a commercial speed and the port will be better able to accommodate the larger ships of today than can the Port of Churchill. It will be in operation year-round and be able to handle transport of heavy metals, potash, manufactured products, and LNG. This provides access from the west and even the south as well as east from the Ontario Ring of Fire.
The line, called NeeStaNan, will be owned the local Indigenous communities in partnership with the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
“NeeStaNan will be a game changer for the entire country,” said Premier Stefanson. “Manitoba stands to benefit from billions of dollars’ worth of trade, while local indigenous owners and communities will be able to build a robust economy around the line and the new port. Transport to Europe from Hudson Bay is a whole day closer than from traditional ports but it also gives us better access to South American countries such as Brazil, one of the fastest growing populations and economies in the world.”
She went on to point our how this would open the isolated north eastern part of the province for better access by local communities such as Shamattawa.
“The Churchill line will also benefit,” she pointed out, “because they will be the link to the Saskatchewan part of the line and NeeStaNan will increase their traffic.”
A consortium of local and out-of-province Indigenous leaders, along with several industry leaders from all three provinces and some local advisory group members have been working on this plan for the past five years. It rounds out the recipe for growth that the Premier has been envisioning, all of which promises an exciting and reinvigorated Manitoba for the next four years.
