Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 9, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba B6 THURSDAY MAY 9, 2024 ● BUSINESS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS ‘Huge piece of the puzzle’: Manitoba Construction Career Expo draws 1,300 high school students Building next generation of trades T HE Winnipeg Construction Asso- ciation takes “planting the seed” seriously. A case in point: the annual Manitoba Construction Career Expo held Wed- nesday at Red River Exhibition Place. In its efforts to get high school stu- dents thinking about careers in the trades, the WCA and its partners — Ap- prenticeship Manitoba and the prov- ince of Manitoba — brought 1,300, mostly Grade 11 and 12 students from 55 schools to the event from as far away as Dauphin. Buses and lunch are paid for for all students involved. Organizers even pay for the substitute teachers required to teach the students that don’t come to the event. There were close to 30 career tracks on display at the Career Expo. At the Lafarge display, students had the rare chance to work with wet con- crete. RRC Polytech had a carpentry station; MITT had an electrical one. The Manitoba Wall and Ceiling Asso- ciation let student drill drywall screws and fix holes. There were long lineups at the Winni- peg Heavy Construction Association’s booth to try out the front-end loader simulator and at Manitoba Hydro’s out- door stations, where students access a bucket truck or articulated lift, a scis- sor lift or try operating a mini excav- ator (all provided by United Rentals). “We’d get even more students to come, but we don’t want them to have to spend too much time lining up to par- ticipate at the booths,” WCA president Ron Hambley said of the event’s attend- ance. At the Manitoba Masonry Institute booth, Nina Widmer of Widmer Casting was helping students lay one brick at a time on a three-ringed Roman arc they were building. Maya Bekerman, a Grade 12 student at St. Boniface Diocesan High School, looked like she knew what she was doing. “My father works in construction, so I have been exposed to stuff,” she said. “I’m good with my hands.” As adept as she was with the trowel, Maya said she wants to go into the air- craft maintenance engineering pro- gram at RRC Polytech. Maya’s attitude is exactly what many of the 20-plus exhibitor/recruiters are looking for. Floyd Thorkelson, power line techni- cian training supervisor for Manitoba Hydro, was helping load students into a lift bucket or helping them into belts and spurs to try out climbing poles (required of power line technicians — formerly called linemen — when they can’t get a bucket truck close enough). “One of the requirements for a power line technician is to be comfortable working at heights,” he said. Thorkelson has been participating in the event for about a decade. (The gathering was put on hold for a couple of years during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic.) “There’s a lot of kids that come through,” he said. “I’ve hired quite a few people over the years who said they first got introduced and found out about the trades at this event. We love coming to this. It really grabs their attention.” Hydro and the Manitoba Masonry In- stitute — and other such organizations — pay full-time wages to apprentice- ship students and virtually guarantee them jobs when they graduate. Laurie Edel, guidance counsellor at Morris High School, and Shawna Stevenson, guidance counsellor at Rosenort High School, brought a total of 57 students to the event. “I think it’s tremendous,” said Edel. “I first attended in 2018, when I load- ed up six students in my seven-person van. Now, we’ve got a whole bus load be- cause, over the years, the students who attended spoke about how great it was.” Morris and Rosenort are part of the Red River Technical Vocational Area, where five schools pool resources, each offering differing vocational program- ming without overlap. Transportation is provided for the students who want to be part of a program not offered at their school. Stevenson said they only bring the students interested in construction and the trades to the career expo. “That’s one of the beauties of being at a small school,” she said. “We know all the students.” Hambley said workforce develop- ment is “still the No. 1 issue for every contractor.” As such, many employers are recruiting all the time. “Whether we can find someone al- ready skilled in Canada or overseas, that’s one thing,” said Hambley. “En- couraging youth to take a look at con- struction jobs is a huge opportunity for us. It’s a huge piece of the puzzle.” martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca MARTIN CASH MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Halie Garlinski, a Grade 9 student at Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, takes part in the Manitoba Hydro power line technician climbing station Wednesday at Red River Exhibition Place in Winnipeg. The annual career expo organized by the Winnipeg Construction Association is viewed as an important step to get youth thinking about a career in the trades. ‘Food with purpose’: Yummy Owl takes flight TWO Winnipeg entrepreneurs who give a hoot about healthy eating are attempt- ing to spread the love — while turning a profit — via their new meal service. Company owner Alistair Hopper called Yummy Owl “a bit of a natural fit” for he and chef Robin Maharaj. The service is just getting its wings, but soon, Hopper hopes to ship breakfast burritos and berry bowls across the city. Yummy Owl is using a Whyte Ridge restaurant as its home base and so- called ghost kitchen. From there, its meals and snacks are collected and sent through Winnipeg. “I’m a big fan of food with purpose,” said Hopper, 44. He’s been that way for a while. Around 25 years ago, Hopper began his fitness journey. The gym became increasingly like home while he was a university student, so Hopper traded his career goal of teacher for personal trainer. He worked at a few gyms and landed as business owner of Flex Fitness. Six- teen years and a COVID-19 pandemic later, Hopper still operates the 24-hour facility. He met and became friends with Maharaj (and even acted as his person- al trainer) through the chef’s Osborne Village restaurant: Deadfish Café, a quirky eatery Tourism Winnipeg once described as defying categorization. The Trinidadian-Canadian closed the spot in 2013. Maharaj left Manitoba for a while. He worked in Montreal and Nunavut before returning to the keystone prov- ince. In 2022, the chef began experi- menting with whole foods. He was in rehab for alcoholism and started eating more fruit to satisfy sugar cravings, Maharaj said. Maharaj took up exercising and de- vised a new meal plan, one filled with sweet potato and other vegetables. “I didn’t want to eat healthy food just to be healthy,” Maharaj stated. “If it’s not delicious, I don’t want to be part of it.” Fast-forward to Maharaj working in Winnipeg restaurants, busing from the gym and scarfing down meals. He tweaked his new food regimen to be on- the-go. Then, he contacted Hopper. Would Hopper market Maharaj’s meals to Flex Fitness members, maybe as a new business for the duo? “I wanted to sell to more than just my client base,” Hopper said. “I took the ball and kind of ran with it.” Maharaj’s idea comes at a time when spending on non-essentials has dwin- dled, at least in Hopper’s gym. “It’s a luxury that I have to convince people to put money into,” Hopper said, adding it’s more difficult to attract new customers now than during the pan- demic. Despite consumers’ tight budgets, Hopper believes Yummy Owl will take off if people taste the food. Maharaj prepares the meals in the Hangar — a soon-to-be-rebranded res- taurant, he said — on Scurfield Boule- vard, where he’s managing chef. He comes in before the restaurant opens and preps the food for pickup or delivery. He’s been doing so since Janu- ary. Meanwhile, Hopper has made rounds to nearby gyms, offices and salons, advertising Yummy Owl and offering samples. “That’s what I’m focused on right now … branding.” Competitors are plentiful. Hopper hopes to surpass the competition, he said, and grow Yummy Owl enough to hire another chef, taking the burden off Maharaj. “The whole thing is hard on me, but it matters,” Maharaj said. “I want to give Yummy Owl every opportunity to suc- ceed.” Orders for Yummy Owl can come any time between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tues- day through Saturday. The entrepre- neurs plan to start a monthly subscrip- tion service May 13. Both will continue their respective jobs as gym owner and restaurant chef. Yummy Owl advertises berry bowls for $8 and steaks for $15, not including delivery fees. Customers can pick up their food at the Hangar, Hopper added. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Alistair Hopper, co-founder of Yummy Owl, with two of the new Winnipeg-based meal delivery service’s dishes: Mediterranean power picnic (in hand) and healthy harvest hash. Hopper, a gym owner, and local chef Robin Maharaj recently launched Yummy Owl. Winnipeg home sales bloom in April HOME buying in Winnipeg and surrounding communities has rebounded, beating the five-year average for the first time in nearly two years. “April has been a strong month for us,” Daphne Shepherd, Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board president, said Wednesday. The organization publicized a nearly 30 per cent increase in year-over-year home sales in April. The 1,419 purchases last month outdid the typical 1,373 counted in the same month’s five-year average. Shepherd attributes the jump to, in large part, a steadying of interest rates. The Bank of Canada hasn’t altered its key rate since July 2023. People seem optimistic the rates won’t rise further, so they’re house hunting again, Shepherd said. “We tend to buckle down during times of uncertainty,” she added. “We wait for a little while until we see some light.” The lights are on for economists: in April, CIBC and RBC released analyses expressing beliefs the Bank of Canada is slowly moving to trimming its key rate. Immigration and a reliably busy spring market have contributed to higher prices in April compared to the same month last year, Shepherd noted. Residential detached homes cost an average $436,535, up seven per cent from $409,134. The highest number of sales last month came in the $600,000 to $699,999 bracket, the WRREB found. Meantime, first-time buyers struggling to enter the market can look to condo- miniums, Shepard advised. Condos in the $175,000 to $199,999 range were the most popular in April. The dollar volume of home sales climbed 41 per cent year over year when considering April 2024 compared to 2023. By the end of last month, people had spent $561 million on homes in Winnipeg and surrounding regions. Active listings increased by seven per cent, to 3,827. Home sales outside of Winnipeg increased 23 per cent year over year in April, to 901. Those prices rose six per cent during the same time frame, reaching an average $395,112. — Gabrielle Piché ;