Virden: Living the good life in Manitoba’s southwest corner

The biggest issue that we face in Western and South-Central Manitoba is the depopulation of our rural communities. Turtle Mountain is facing a relocating of young people to larger centres such as Winnipeg, Brandon, and Morden/Winkler to attend post-secondary institutions. They go seeking training for careers but in many cases they can’t find opportunities in their home community to utilize those skills so they don’t return.

Another reason for depopulation in the western region is that farms are getting bigger and bigger and there are fewer farm families to support the small communities. Growing up on a farm in rural Manitoba, we had many neighbours around us, and most farms had one or two sections of land that supported each farm family. Farmers would haul their grain or dairy products to the closest grain elevator or creamery and almost every community had an elevator with a railway going through the town. Most farmers had smaller grain trucks to haul their commodities. While the farmer and their family were in the small towns hauling their goods, they would also pick up farm supplies, personal consumer goods and groceries. This would support local businesses in all our small communities. As the federal government allowed the closing of local railroad lines, many communities were greatly affected, losing their grain elevators, creameries, and many small family businesses. As a result, small towns are now facing an ageing population consisting of retiring professionals in education, healthcare, financial services and agriculture.

There is hope. My priority has always been economic growth because growth ensures that future generations will be able to keep our communities thriving. Throughout Turtle Mountain, many communities have been successful in reversing the depopulation trend by focusing on economic development: communities such as Killarney, Boissevain, Pilot Mound/Crystal City (Louise Municipality), Notre Dame, Manitou, Cartwright and Pierson. In these communities we’ve seen school enrollment increase.

We are also seeing companies in the region expanding including Western Arch Rib (Boissevain), HyLife Industries (Killarney), Goodon Industries (Boissevain), Group (Boissevain), PhiBer Manufacturing (Crystal City), Pilot Mound Hockey Academy (Pilot Mound), Tundra Oil & Gas (Western Region), Comte Industries Limited (Notre Dame), Ag-Quest (Minto), Tuff Cattle Handing Equipment (Notre Dame), Reimer Welding Inc. (Cartwright), Rainbow Trailer (Cartwright), Good Lands Environmental (Pierson), Vandale Seeds Ltd. (Madora) and Subcan (Manitou).

One of the fasting growing municipalities in Turtle Mountain is the RM of Louise which includes the communities of Pilot Mound, Crystal City and Clearwater. The municipality grew by 5.6% in the last 2021 Census, higher than the Manitoba average of 5%. Much of the growth was contributed to an influx of young families moving into the area to work at PhiBer Manufacturing which had a major expansion of their manufacturing facilities. Killarney-Turtle Mountain experienced a growth of 2.7%, much of which was due to the expansion of the hog industry, including a new feed mill built by HyLife and several new hog barns which now employ area residents. We are also seeing increased collaboration with Indigenous communities and Hutterite colonies, many of which are specializing in specific products or services. Uniting our communities and working together is how we move toward a prosperous and growing region.

The municipality of Boissevain/Morton had a decline of 1.9%, which surprised me My prediction is that this community will should grew due to an economic development focus which will soon see a new manufacturer moving into to produce travel trailers. There is also the expansion of their two biggest manufacturers: Western Arch Rib and Goodon Industries.

The expansion of activity at the International Peace Garden is focusing on increasing tourism in the region. Manitoba and North Dakota governments have invested $20 million to renovate, expand and build new attractions to increase more events and travel to the Garden, which is taking the leadership in bringing communities together to work collaboratively to increase regional travel to both sides of the border. Everyone in the Turtle Mountain region will benefit from this.

When we have a growing rural community, young local families have a future with new for career opportunities to support the workforce. If a manufacturer is hiring an engineer for example, the spouse of that engineer could also be a healthcare professional, which equates to a new employee at the regional healthcare facility.

At one time, when farms where small and numerous, a spouse would often work as a teacher or a healthcare professional. Now that farms are larger family farm corporations, everyone in the family may work in the farm corporation and community may no longer benefit from one of the family members working in any other industry.

That is the challenge we are facing. With a community where the population is aging and now needs more healthcare for their residents but no longer can rely on the farming community to provide these healthcare professionals, we need to figure out how to meet those needs another way. This is why communities really need to focus on economic development to attract new industries to bring in new families and diversify the populations and its talents. A number of communities have done well and have fewer issues to healthcare professionals. If a community is growing and thriving, they are better able to attract a doctor to stay to raise their family in the country where they have a good life-work balance and a wonderful quality of life.

This is why in the Southwest Region of Manitoba we all have to work together to show the rest of the world that we are open for business. We have a beautiful region for families to work in and build a life where they can enjoy our outdoors, our parks and the many lakes we have in the region.

Now that we have the technology with improved fiber optics, many of our workforce can now work in rural Manitoba and still have a great career that will allow everyone with the opportunity to live where there are open spaces and people can have a life-work balance.

Doyle Piwniuk is the MLA for Turtle Mountain. His column will be an ongoing feature in Lifestyles 55 to help promote our knowledge and understanding about the amazing things happening in the part of our province.

Read More Articles from Doyle Piwniuk

Unveiling the Dynamics of Research, Innovation, and Global Exports: A Closer Look at Manitoba Southwest Corner Landscape