2 weeks Ago By Editorial
Premier Wab Kinew may be right. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Premier Wab Kinew may be right. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Opinion Premier Wab Kinew may be right.
It may be that Manitoba needs a trade representative in Washington. It may be that, for Manitoba, out of sight is out of mind. At least, that’s the impression Kinew says he got on a recent trip to Washington.
“You know what they asked us? ‘Manitoba, where have you been the past few years?’” Kinew said in his annual state of the province speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew. So this province will join others like Ontario and Alberta in having a representative on the ground in Washington during the next four years of the Trump administration.
“We could use the next four years to supercharge a period of economic growth over the medium to long term,” Kinew said. “It’s clear that the critical minerals, and the energy and the (agricultural) products, manufacturing goods that we have are absolutely essential to American economic success, so we are going to be there to try and make that argument.” All of that sounds like a clear plan: spend the money — often, considerable money — to set up and staff an office, even if it’s a single representative with an address and support staff, and then have that representative reach out and start to make the necessary connections with American politicians and business leaders.
But. But it’s an office being built from the ground up in an expensive national capital that’s already awash with lobbyists and hangers-on, with players and fixers and other trade reps. And who can forget the obvious “pay-to-play” nature of the last Trump presidency, where hangers-on around the Trump sphere argued they needed the right financial incentives to get you in the door? Set aside the relatively broad support for the idea from the business community, simply on the grounds of self-interest: as a business owner, if someone offers you a Washington business representative at no direct cost to you, you’ll likely to consider it an advantage.
Anything’s probably better than nothing. And that’s far from the only issue. The provincial trade representative role is sometimes seen as a sinecure for friends of government — Ontario’s last representative in Washington, Ian Todd, was most notably the former tour director for the Ontario PC Party’s 2018 election campaign, and was paid $348,000 a year for his stint in Washington.
He had no international trade experience at the time of his appointment by the Ontario cabinet. The position is now held by former auto industry executive David Paterson, who took on the post in late 2023. Alberta’s current senior representative in Washington is former Edmonton-area Conservative MP James Rajotte — other senior representatives have included two former Conservative cabinet ministers and another former Tory MP.
(The spot was filled by a former diplomat when the NDP was in office.) Given that four out of four of the trade reps for that province appointed by Alberta conservative parties were former conservative politicians, you could argue that their politics were clearly a more important prerequisite than their skills at international trade. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions.
Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Anecdotally, it may seem like a great and necessary idea — and you can be sure that, whoever the trade rep is, they’ll be graciously credited any time a business success occurs, whether or not they were actually involved in the process. The simple point is that empirical results showing the success of such offices are often hard to identify.
The spending, however, is pretty clear. Any Washington office should be weighed on the scales of value for money. And first and foremost, it should be headed by a professional businessperson experienced in international trade, who brings with them a strong collection of pre-existing connections in the U.
S. If it’s just going to be a retirement gig for a former politician, well, let’s skip it. Advertisement Advertisement.
