REGINA — The minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) was in Regina hearing from business leaders Thursday.
Eleanor Olszewski, minister for PrairiesCan, was the guest speaker at a luncheon hosted by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. She sat down for a one-on-one discussion with Chamber CEO Prabha Ramaswamy and audience members on issues important to the business community in the province.
The event was held in the backdrop of continuing tariff and trade concerns with countries such as the United States, with an upcoming tough negotiation ahead on Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). As it turned out, the federal government's response to the tariff situation — including a focus on nation building projects and help for businesses facing tariff pressures — was a major focus of Olszewski's appearance in Regina.
One of the questions Ramaswamy posed to the minister was on the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, which proved a timely topic as Olszewski announced funding later that day of $8.1 million to four Saskatchewan organizations and businesses.
Ramaswamy asked Olszewski how they could get some of that Regional Tariff Response Initiative money to Saskatchewan businesses. Olszewski replied they were already able to deliver “part of that money to Saskatchewan businesses.”
But Olszewski pointed out with the tariff response funding, a large amount was allocated to the regional development agency PrairiesCan. She emphasized the important thing about PrairiesCan is that it works locally.
“And so it's not a bunch of people sitting in Ottawa making decisions about businesses in Saskatchewan. We have PrairiesCan offices in Regina and in Saskatoon and in Prince Albert and we have the most amazing on-the-ground people working in those offices. They are deeply connected. They have deep roots in communities in Saskatchewan.”
Olszewski urged anyone in the room who had been impacted by tariffs to “meet with PrairiesCan people and they will absolutely guide you through the process, help you complete documentation. They can tell you what criteria a program eligibility will depend on and they can steer you in another direction if that, you know, if the funding doesn't match in whatever way.”
Another topic that came up was the major projects office, with 21 nation-building projects on their list of items.
In talking about the major projects office, Olszewski pointed to the location of the office in Calgary as “just a fundamental sign of this government's commitment to the Prairies and where we fit in the national economy and the global economy.”
She also pointed to the number of projects under consideration as a positive sign.
“There's 15 projects at the office. There's another six that are called transformative projects like Churchill that aren't quite ready — like a number of projects are in various stages of development. So that's 21 projects. When in this country have we ever been working on like 21 major projects at one point in time? I mean, it really is a historic moment for us. And we are completely committed as a government to, as the prime minister says, building this country strong. And that means taking advantage of the strengths across each of the regions in our country and doing the best that we can to build up those regions in the country for the benefit of regions and provinces, but also for the benefit of the country as a whole.”
Olszewski was asked about how Saskatchewan could get projects on that list and she noted there are already projects on the list that are from Saskatchewan. She mentioned to reporters Eldorado Gold’s McIlvenna Bay copper, zinc, gold and silver mine project in northeastern Saskatchewan.
“But there are a number of other ways that Saskatchewan businesses can be part of our efforts to build Canada strong,” Olszewski told reporters.
Some of that, she said, is by “working through Prairies Economic Development … and then for projects that aren't at the major projects level, but also aren't too big to be funded by Prairies Economic Development, there's another — Prairie Partnership Initiative. And we, PrairiesCan, can help businesses bring their proposals to a table, and that table cuts across about 10 different government departments and some agencies as well.”
Olszewski pointed to the Prairie Partnership Initiative as an option when she was asked by Swift Current Mayor Al Bridal about what could be done to liquefy helium from southwest Saskatchewan so that they don’t have to go to the U.S. to do it.
But such a project would be of a smaller scale than those that would make the major projects list. Olszewski noted there was a “place for projects that fall, and I'm going to call it that dead zone, between a smaller enterprise and a big, major project,” and pointed to the Prairie Partnership Initiative table as being an option.
“So, what's the benefit of that? In that space in between, we can have a proponent present, and the proponent can be yourself, it can be a province with support, can present a proposal, and we can determine whether or not other government departments are prepared to fund that. And so it's a one-stop shop. It's actually quite brilliant to my way of thinking, because instead of going to a number of different government departments to try to get money from each of them, we can convene one table and have a discussion about that project with a number of people present, and those departments can decide what they may be prepared to invest.”
