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198 199 tioning is known by agencies that can best con- nect us to future opportunities. This has included speaking at the World Trade Centre Annual Gen- eral Assembly in Leeuwarden, Netherlands this spring, liaising with internationally-posted Trade Commissioners at Canadian Embassies around the globe, and ensuring that our message is on point and stands out, even when we find our- selves vying for opportunities against larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver.With the world look- ing ahead to how we’ll feed the growing popula- tion by 2050, Portage la Prairie is in a great posi- tion to be a part of all of those conversations.” Mayor Ferris agrees that the city is primed for new growth and, in anticipation, Portage la Prairie has put out the welcome mat: “We are a wel- coming, inclusive, diverse community; we have a very good quality of life, here – excellent schools, excellent recreation opportunities. And I’d say to anybody, ‘Come and give us a look.’ I think they’d like what they see.” Commercial Opportunities Southport is continuously looking to develop and improve our site. We work with you to develop your company and ensure the continued success of Southport. Land Use & New Development Great opportunity for growth at Southport with 607 hectares of land to build on (including 80 hectares airside). The majority of lots available are serviced and ready to be built on immediately. At Southport our goal is to establish a world-class business centre balanced with lifestyle, wellness and recreation facilities. • Project management expertise • Affordable lease rates • Financing options “We have a number of initiatives and we’re con- stantly looking for ways to innovate,”he states.“We have a composting program that we run, and we have a compost area in the city where people can take anything from leaves to grass clippings, etc., and it gets composted.We give away that finished product to people in Portage la Prairie who come and help themselves.We also do Christmas tree pickups; we do a yard waste pickup in the spring for a couple of weeks; we do it again in the fall.” “We also have an urban forest,” Irvine con- tinues. “The last number of years, we’ve been integrating fruit trees into it, so we have fruit production alongside of the walking paths, and, in a few years, people will be able to harvest that fruit. And, obviously, with our climate, we salt our streets, and three years ago, we started experi- menting with putting beet juice in to reduce the need for salt, which has a positive impact on the environment and also on the vehicles that use our roads. The purpose of the salt is to keep the sand from clumping up in cold weather and the beet juice seems to do that just as well.” May says that Portage’s population has re- mained virtually unchanged for the past 40 years, but with the two new plants opening in the near future, that number should change, dramatically. “From 1971 until now, our population hasn’t devi- ated beyond 300 people,” he notes. “We were just under 13,000 in 1970, and we’re just over 13,000, now. So, we haven’t lost any, but we haven’t made any significant gains. “In addition to the increased interest in the city and area from investors and companies, Portage Regional Economic Development is continuing to reach out pro-actively to ensure that our posi- PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MANITOBA PREFERRED VENDORS n Food Development Centre roberta.irvine@gov.mb.ca A Special Operating Agency of the Province of Manitoba the goals of the Food Development Centre are to: increase the competitiveness, sustainability and adaptability of the agricultural industries; grow the agri-food and agri-product processing industries in Manitoba; and increase the capacity of agriculture, agri-food, and agri-product related organiza- tions to drive economic development. n McCain Foods, Ltd. www.mccain.com McCain Foods Ltd. is a Canadian, multi-national, private- ly-owned company established in 1956 in Florenceville, New Brunswick. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products with over 20,000 employees and 47 produc- tion facilities on six continents. n Southport www.southport.ca