3.7 – Introduction deck – Key regional economic opportunities
Value-added agricultural production
- Over 80% of Canada’s farmland: the Prairies contribute 94% of Canada’s exports in key agricultural commodities like wheat, canola oil, canola seeds, lentils, peas, and beans.
- Opportunity to grow value-added agriculture sector through increasing manufactured food exports. Expanding value-added agricultural production in the Prairies would add billions to the national economy and create thousands of good-paying jobs in the region.
Building new trade infrastructure
Getting more goods to new international markets would expand trade in key Prairie sectors such as energy, agriculture, and critical minerals. The Port of Churchill provides a key opportunity to do this.
Clean energy
- International demand for clean energy is growing.
- Opportunity to expand development and utilization of clean technology to increase productivity and lower emissions in traditional sectors (energy, agriculture, critical minerals) as well as emerging areas of strength (biofuels, artificial intelligence).
Enhance Indigenous economic participation
- With nearly 40% of Canada’s Indigenous population, the region is home to a higher proportion of Indigenous-owned businesses than the national average.
- Catalyzing increased Indigenous economic participation, especially related to resource projects, can help the Prairies capitalize on this opportunity.
Expand critical minerals extraction and processing
- The Prairies have world-leading reserves of in-demand critical minerals like potash and uranium.
- Further processing opportunities include battery metals (e.g. lithium), uranium, as well as helium liquefaction.
- Opportunity to enhance supply chains to get Prairie critical minerals to new markets.