PrairiesCan Minister and MP for Saint Boniface-St. Vital Dan Vandal made an announcement of government funding of a total of over $11,796,593 on Tuesday at the Fort la Reine Museum in Portage la Prairie. He says the federal government was assisting businesses and organizations throughout rural Manitoba.

Fort la Reine Museum and the BDO Centre for the Community are two local recipients.

"Fort la Reine is getting $25,000 to refurbish the Fort which is in need of repair," notes Vandal. "They made an application several months ago. I was very happy that we were able to approve it. And it's the sort of local attraction that's very important to local rural communities and it's a great spot to visit when you're in Portage la Prairie. It's the perfect sort of project to receive the sort of help from Prairies Canada."

Vandal says tourism needs a financial boost after we've gone through two very difficult years due to COVID.

"We know that operators have been hit hard, so there's a special tourism fund in Prairies Canada that we are looking to distribute throughout rural and northern communities," continues Vandal. 

Spenst Meats is a well-known frozen pizza company based out of Winkler whose products are available at the local Co-op Grocery store, Panko's and Portage Supermarket. 

"Spenst Meats are getting an interest-free loan of at least $2.6 million to increase production capacity of their pizza facilities," notes Vandal. "That's something that's going to create jobs, it's going to be good for the local economy, and provide nutritious pizza to Manitobans and Canadians."

Agi3 LTD from Oak Bluff also received $2,766,000 to commercialize an AI-driven crop insurance platform.

Vandal adds the funding announcement is a great opportunity to actually partner with local leaders, local volunteers, and local business people to grow the rural economy. 

He explains PrairiesCan is an economic development agency that spawned from Western Economic Diversification. 

"Western Diversification was split up into two different agencies, PrairiesCan and PacificCan, essentially to help with the recovery after two years of COVID," says Vandal. "There's more money in each in all the envelopes in both agencies, and we're doing more outreach to try to get to more rural communities and northern communities. I'm on my way to Brandon to open a new office, and on my way there, we stopped here to make some funding announcements."