BRANDON, Man. – Barry Routledge says in the past two years, he has heard about many communities in Manitoba that looked at building a strawboard plant. To date, none has been built.
He thinks it’s a shame the groups all went through the same research steps to determine the idea may not be viable. If rural Manitoba wants to concentrate less on growing grain for export and more on adding value to commodities, groups should be able to share the groundwork of exploring new projects.
“Let’s analyze where the problems were and continue that exercise instead of everybody starting with the birth of the idea first and stumbling through those first steps,” said Routledge, of Keystone Agricultural Producers, a Manitoba farm lobby group.
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KAP wants to put together a council to help rural communities get the information needed to decide how to adapt to life without the Crow Benefit. The council would develop a business plan that communities could use, and would help them get unbiased information, said Routledge. It could be running by January.
KAP held a two-day workshop in July that brought together a wide variety of people with “vision” for rural adaptation, said president Les Jacobson.
Participants found that two of the biggest barriers to rural growth were the lack of co-ordination of efforts, and problems finding capital for development.
Jacobson said premier Gary Filmon likes the idea of the business plan, but wants to see both provincial and federal money involved.
