Question Period Note: PrairiesCan Accomplishments

PrairiesCan Accomplishments

• PrairiesCan has invested $1.2 billion in over 350 communities across the Prairies. Our investments have contributed to the creation of almost 60,000 jobs and more than $4.1 billion in export sales growth.

• With Prairie businesses impacted by the turbulent global trade environment, PrairiesCan is investing in Prairie small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help them innovate, build resilience, and capitalize on opportunities in a rapidly changing global economy.

• Our Government will catalyze the Prairie economy by leveraging its unique regional strengths to build one Canadian economy that is the strongest in the G7.

• PrairiesCan’s work directly supports:
o Mission 1: Establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States and strengthening our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world by delivering targeted support to SMEs to thrive in diversified markets through the Regional Tariff Response Initiative.
o Mission 2: Building one Canadian economy by removing barriers to interprovincial trade and identifying and expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform our country by breaking down government silos by leveraging the legislative framework of the Building a Green Prairie Economy Act to incubate strategic projects with potential to become nation-building projects.
o Mission 4: Making housing more affordable by unleashing the power of public-private cooperation, catalyzing a modern housing industry, and creating new careers in the skilled trades by bolstering innovation in the construction and building sector by investing in SMEs pursuing innovation in home construction technologies and practices.
o Mission 5: Protecting Canadian sovereignty and keeping Canadians safe by strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, securing our borders, and reinforcing law enforcement by deepening the defence industrial base by leveraging Prairie capabilities.

• PrairiesCan supports nation-building and the Government’s projects of national interest, through:
o Expanding Prairies’ Critical Minerals Opportunities: Canada has the potential to be a powerhouse in the extraction and upgrading of critical minerals. PrairiesCan has invested in the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), Canada’s first rare earth element processing facility. The SRC has produced its first commercial-scale rare earth metals and is continuing work to ramp up production. The SRC is currently one of only a few entities in North America with capabilities to produce these important materials, which are needed in electric vehicles, wind turbines, defence applications, robotics, HVAC systems, elevators, and green technologies. PrairiesCan’s investment helps to ensure that Canada’s critical minerals industry can grow.
o Growing the Region’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Capacity: PrairiesCan is leading work towards the All Canadian Build, by providing support, along with ISED and the Province of Manitoba, to NFI Group’s All-Canadian Build facility in Winnipeg that will produce low emission transit buses, from start to finish, entirely in Canada.
o Strengthening Northern Trade Corridors: Rooted in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, investment in the Port of Churchill, Canada’s only Arctic deepwater port connected to a national rail network, has the potential to be transformative for Canada. Investment could expand trade corridors and will contribute to increased and diversified trade with Europe and other partners. $50 million over five years was announced earlier this year for PrairiesCan to continue work at the Port of Churchill.