Despite the economic and systemic challenges facing Winnipeg, Ryan Kuffner is optimistic about the city’s future.
The president and CEO of Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism says there’s no hiding from the fact that other Canadian cities are competing hard for talent and visitors at the same time as Winnipeg’s long-time edge in affordability is slipping.
“Complacency isn’t an option. Keeping pace isn’t enough. We’re at risk of falling behind cities we have historically outperformed. We need to move quicker, think bigger and be bolder in everything we do,” he says.
“We are at a crossroads. We’re at risk of losing the quality of life that we enjoy in Winnipeg. Winnipeg’s future will be defined by the actions we take today and by how we take them.”
The city’s lead economic development and tourism agency outlined its five-year plan to boost the city’s economic and tourism growth over the next five years at an official launch this week.
The event, entitled “Winnipeg Forward 2025: Shaping Winnipeg’s Future,” was held at The Leaf in Assiniboine Park on Nov. 4. It was attended by more than 225 people, including business leaders and politicians.
Through boosting Winnipeg’s competitiveness, elevating its global profile and harnessing the city’s business and tourism community to drive city-wide prosperity, the goal is to contribute to the creation of 11,000 jobs, $1.25 billion in capital investment and $3.4 billion in GDP by the end of 2030.
Following his keynote address, Kuffner was joined on stage by Mayor Scott Gillingham and Jamie Moses, the provincial minister of Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation for a question and answer session.
Despite his warnings about the increasingly competitive landscape, Kuffner says Winnipeg and Manitoba have all of the right ingredients for future prosperity.
“We need to put them together and we need the right cooks in the kitchen. We need to align our strategies — the city, the province and agencies like ours — in a way that is mutually supporting. This is a time when we need to start changing and shifting our natural cultural habit in the city and province and be more bold than we’ve ever been,” he says.
“This is not a time to be last to the party. This is a time to be first to the party.”
Gillingham agrees.
“We can’t be pulling in three or four different directions and think we’re going to be successful as a region when it comes to growing our economy. There’s got to be alignment,” he says.
Some recent initiatives from the City include significant changes to rezoning laws to reduce red tape for residential developers and the biggest overhaul in Winnipeg’s Transit’s nearly 150-year history.
“We are sowing the seeds that are going to bear the fruit that we want to see in four to five years. We’re making hard decisions today for a better tomorrow,” he says.
Winnipeg Economic Development & Tourism is the recently-adopted rebrand of Economic Development Winnipeg, YES! Winnipeg and Tourism Winnipeg.
Kuffner says the province’s economic leadership is coming from the top with Premier Wab Kinew envisioning Manitoba losing it’s “have-not” status by 2040 but it’s up to business leaders and decision makers to make it a reality.
“If we don’t boot-strap it ourselves as Winnipeggers and Manitobans, no one is coming here to bless us with an economic future. It starts with us. So what are we going to do today and over the next five years to make that potential a reality? That’s what this is about,” he says.
