Page 29 - Westman Business 2018

OCTOBER 2018 • WESTMAN BUSINESS • THE BRANDON SUN 29

» Continued from Page 23 province was the same. The wheat was “The pipeline activity has definitely front, so that everyone knows the costs
“If our farm communities do well, so just excellent. The canola was average. Soy helped retailers in Brandon,” said Bran- they’re getting into, and that it can be done
does Brandon,” Trudel said. “I’m waiting to beans are disappointing everywhere.” don Chamber of Commerce president Jeff in an expedient manner so they can get on
see what’s happening with this cold spell Commodity prices have stayed sol- Hood. “You see some increase in traffic with business.”
that hit us.” id - “not strong, but solid,” Mazer added, throughout town. You know people are There is also the business of downtown
The weather in the Westman area this stating that there remains good canola out spending money on grocery stores, restau- redevelopment, particularly following last
fall has been unseasonably cold, and much in the fields, and soybeans – what crop re- rants, hotels, and other markets in the May’s disastrous fires which destroyed a
of harvest in the western part of the prov- mains – can stand a fair amount of water. area.” number of businesses. There are also sev-
ince has been at a standstill. While Key- “In this business, you have to imagine But as nice as this little financial gain is eral open lots either for sale or currently
stone Agricultural Producers president Bill that the glass is half full.” for local retailers, Hood noted that this is underdeveloped.
While Chrest said the downtown re-
Campbell recently warned that the cost And there’s more to agriculture than only temporary, and is not part of a sustain- gion remains a concern, and that there is
of such a cool wet spring is “going to be just the harvest season. Producers with able economy.
significant” – possibly in the millions of livestock have seen some stable years. “Those people won’t be here forever,” no doubt the May fires were a significant
setback, he sees ongoing growth and a lot
dollars – not everyone in the agricultural “There’s optimism out there. Com- Hood said. “So, we’re trying to put a fo- of optimism in the city – not just down-
industry is as concerned. modity prices are strong, Cattle prices are cus on economic growth in the city. It’s a town, but throughout the city.
“I’m feeling the pain. This is brutal- strong. Pork prices are OK,” he said. “Op- culture shift – make it top of mind with He likened every new business opening
ly stressful and painful,” said Bob Mazer, erations are probably as efficient as we’ve government, but also the business com- or expansion to getting a hit at a ballgame.
president and CEO of Mazergroup Imple- ever seen therm. This is a bump in the road. munity as well. Everyone has to be able to “This is like hitting singles,” Chrest
ments. “But I’ve been farming for 50 years Those that are in the business of farming work together and prop each othesr up so said. “You have to keep hitting them and
and we’ve always got a crop off. Is there a aren’t going to say that ‘because I had four we have a success.” hitting them, and the Brandon Downtown
bunch of heartache and stress and difficulty or five bad weeks – forget it.’ They will buy For Hood, this includes pushing the city Development Corporation is really helping
involved? Yeah. But it won’t take much to equipment, upgrade and continue to make to further reduce red tape so that existing those instances.
get back out on the field.” the business decisions on what they need to businesses have the ability to grow, and to “Then you’d hope for some bigger hits,
Mazer’s optimism stems from his farm- continue to be efficient.” ensure that the city is nimble enough to at- or some home runs as a game changer. The
ing background, which is necessary to keep Further afield, local retailers are also tract new business. Brandon University-led initiative down-
going year after year, even after difficult feeling a financial bump from the ongoing Hood used the example of the new ex- town would be a very large scale proposi-
crop yields. But there’s more to it than that. pipeline construction activity in southern pansion at Precision Toyota on 18th Street. tion. We’re hopeful that we will get some
Before the wet weather descended, harvest Manitoba. Enbridge’s Line 3 construction While their expansion is going through, traction. That would be quite transforma-
yields were looking pretty good across the and replacement program spans more than “which is great to see,” Hood said the pro- tional. But in the meantime, we’ll keep
province. 1,600 kilometres, crossing three provinces cess to get to this point was very slow. hitting the singles and doubles and keep
“We were clicking along pretty reason- and three U.S. states. And all those work- “We all understand there are regulations moving forward.”
ably, and then we started into harvest,” ers need food, lodging, and have money in that have to be put in place and enforced,” mgoerzen@brandonsun.com
Mazer said. “Pretty much all across the their pockets. Hood said. “We just want everything up Twitter: @MattGoerzen

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