Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 28, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba B5 TUESDAY OCTOBER 28, 2025 ● BUSINESS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS Winnipeg airport-adjacent development, food manufacturing sector among those seeking funds from Ottawa Manitoba entities eye federal budget wish list A $32-MILLION development could land near Winnipeg’s airport — but first, organizers are seeking federal money. The Winnipeg Airports Authority joined a number of Manitoba organiz- ations submitting requests to Ottawa ahead of the next national government budget. Cash to increase food process- ing locally, attract United States re- searchers and bolster arts groups were among the requests. Ottawa is set to release its budget Nov. 4. The Winnipeg Airports Authority touted itself as embarking on a project supporting “nation-building, economic development and trade goals.” It’s eyeing a “West Lands” develop- ment adjacent to the Winnipeg Richard- son International Airport. A total of 2.6 million square feet of real estate would be built atop 220 acres, a submission to the House of Commons standing com- mittee on finance reads. “(The development is) perfectly pos- itioned to become a thriving logistics and industrial hub,” according to the WAA’s six-page document. The WAA declined an interview re- quest. The airport — and, likely, the proposed West Lands — falls within CentrePort Canada, Manitoba’s tri- modal inland port spanning 20,000 acres. CentrePort construction is ongoing. West Lands could add $1.9 billion to Manitoba’s GDP during construction and another $485.6 million annually once operational, the WAA outlined. It projects the creation of 2,770 jobs and $24.4 million in annual property taxes for Winnipeg. Already, a “major anchor tenant” has confirmed a 100,000-square-foot space. It plans to be operational by 2027, the WAA’s submission reads. “Government support is essential to move this de- velopment forward.” The WAA pointed to its own finances, which it said have been hindered by COVID-19 pandemic-era travel re- strictions and the current geopolitical environment. Recent passenger traffic was 15 per cent lower than expected, the WAA wrote. Its submission is dated Aug. 1. The airport authority also called for a cap to airport rent, the creation of a bio- metrics strategy to modernize screen- ing at airports and a new program to assist struggling regional air service. Meanwhile, the University of Mani- toba is aiming for a research funding increase and a way to streamline talent from the United States. U.S.-based academics and research- ers — including Canadian ex-pats — have increasingly expressed interest in the U of M, said president Michael Benarroch. It comes as American universities face funding cuts. “We would like to see an investment that would allow us to move forward to attract some of the talent that is avail- able. You have to move fairly quickly to be able to attract people — especially because there’ll be a lot of competi- tion,” Benarroch said. In a submission to Ottawa, the Win- nipeg-based university emphasized its role in helping with national defence and nation-building projects. Research on the Port of Churchill is ongoing, Benarroch noted. The Port of Churchill is a contender among the major projects Ottawa could fast-track. Politicians have heralded the arctic deep-water site as a new trade route and a shining economic de- velopment opportunity. Canada’s economy will grow through more funding of food manufacturing, said Michael Mikulak, executive direc- tor of Food and Beverage Manitoba. The organization was part of an Aug. 1 submission to the feds by Food and Beverage Canada. The association is asking for a $200-million processing fund and a long-term commitment of $2 billion over five years to “modernize Canada’s food and beverage manufac- turing capacity.” Food manufacturing accounts for seven per cent of Manitoba’s GDP. Still, local businesses are often shipping un- finished product, such as canola, for processing elsewhere. And food prices continue to increase: the province logged a 3.9 per cent year- over-year jump in food prices in Sep- tember, Manitoba Bureau of Statistics data show. “I think the whole world is looking for different markets,” Mikulak said, ref- erencing strained trade with the United States. “This is an opportunity for Can- ada to kind of lean in to something that we do really well, which is agri-food.” The national food manufacturing as- sociation has asked for a sector-specif- ic foreign labour program, a regulatory modernization process and tax policy adjustments. Western business councils — includ- ing Manitoba’s — are also calling for tax changes. Reducing top personal in- come tax rates or expanding tax brack- ets are among the requests, as is aban- doning a proposed federal oil and gas emissions cap. “We have to create the right policy for investment — that’s the bottom line,” said Bram Strain, the Business Council of Manitoba’s chief executive. A number of Manitoba arts entities, including the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Winnipeg Symphony Or- chestra, asked for an extra $140 million to be funnelled annually to the Canada Council for the Arts. One caveat: some money should tar- get an “ongoing regional discrepancy” with council funding in the Prairie provinces, submissions read. Basic Income Manitoba, the Associ- ation of Regulated Nurses of Manitoba and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs also made submissions to the House of Com- mons standing committee on finance ahead of the budget. The AMC is asking for, at minimum, $42.5 billion for kindergarten through Grade 12 infrastructure and $11.2 bil- lion for on-reserve housing, among other things. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ Downtowns association makes pitch on Parliament Hill KATE Fenske has an agenda on Parlia- ment Hill: draw attention and support to Canadian downtowns struggling with crime, drug use and homelessness. “Without safe streets, there’s no real environment for business confidence or community well-being,” said Kate Fenske, chief executive of the Down- town Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone. She chairs the International Down- town Association Canada, an organiz- ation representing more than 250,000 businesses and property owners and districts. Fenske is representing IDA Canada during a string of meetings today with federal politicians in Ottawa. “It’s really important for us when we’re having these conversations with elected officials that there’s a general shared understanding of how critical strong downtowns are,” Fenske said. Downtowns across Canada generate 75 per cent of the nation’s gross domes- tic product, IDA Canada says. In Winnipeg, a majority of downtown businesses are locking their doors dur- ing operating hours, Fenske said. The Downtown Community Safety Partner- ship, which the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ co-founded, can’t meet the call de- mand, she added. It’s her third consecutive year visit- ing Ottawa for IDA Canada. Last year, Fenske advocated for bail reform and support to help with homelessness, mental health and addictions. The federal government’s recent an- nouncement on introducing stricter bail laws is welcome, Fenske said. She’s seeking a multi-partisan ap- proach involving all three levels of government and federal outreach to downtown business improvement zones in order to further address downtown challenges. Violent crime in downtown Winnipeg has jumped 14 per cent over the five- year average, city police data show. Still, the 4,896 cases counted between August 2024 and July 2025 is a 2.1 per cent drop from the prior 12 months. Downtowns throughout the country face similar situations, Fenske noted, adding mental-health struggles and homelessness don’t equate to crime. Fenske highlighted transformations happening at the downtown former Hudson’s Bay flagship store and Por- tage Place mall as signs of a changing core. Office vacancy has decreased and events draw thousands of people. Traffic is “steady,” Fenske said, add- ing not all cities have returned to pre- COVID-19 pandemic levels. She plans to meet with Manitoba MPs Ben Carr, Terry Duguid and Ginette Lavack, among other politicians and bureaucrats. Winnipeg’s downtown noted a net loss of four businesses during the second quarter of 2025, according to a BIZ re- port. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ Winnipeg startup OutreachGenius hears call, answer of artificial intelligence voice agents THE first line under David Owasi’s name on his LinkedIn page says it all: turning missed calls into booked jobs. Owasi is chief executive officer at OutreachGenius, a startup in Win- nipeg’s Exchange District that helps home improvement companies and franchise brands with its team of arti- ficial intelligence “voice agents” that answer calls and book appointments so business owners never have to miss an opportunity. It’s a service Owasi wishes he’d had access to 10 years ago. While studying computer science and business at the University of Mani- toba, Owasi ran a small house-painting business to support himself. He was often on job sites managing employees, which meant he couldn’t always answer his phone. That led to missed opportun- ities, he said. “I was just leaving a lot of money on the table,” said Owasi, 32. “The solution of AI solves that problem.” Owasi and Pasha Khoshkebari start- ed the company in 2023 after meeting at a Tech Thursdays networking event. “Very quickly our relationship grew to (us deciding), all right, let’s build this together,” Khoshkebari said. Khoshkebari was 17 years old and finishing Grade 11 at the time. Now 19, he balances his duties as the company’s chief technology officer with studying software engineering at the University of Waterloo. OutreachGenius has a few primary objectives, including making AI ac- cessible to businesses of all sizes and offering a quality product that seam- lessly integrates into the platforms cli- ents are already using, Owasi said. Businesses that use OutreachGenius have 3,000 voices to choose from. Beth, for example, speaks with a British ac- cent in a gentle and nurturing tone, while Leo speaks energetically in an Indian accent. The voice agents were created from an AI model that was trained using millions of hours of audio and millions of kilobytes of text, Khoshkebari said. The voice agents can use phrases that express empathy to better connect with callers and have been programmed to use filler words like “um” to appear more lifelike. However, the goal is not to trick call- ers, Owasi said. If a caller asks if they are talking to an AI agent, the voice agent will tell them they are. Often, the voice agent will mention it at the beginning of the call (which is a legal requirement in some U.S. states, ac- cording to Owasi). If the caller asks to speak with a hu- man, the voice agent will connect them to one. “Disclosing that you’re talking to an AI is very important to us,” Owasi said. According to OutreachGenius statis- tics, the company’s voice agents have completed more than three million calls, saving clients more than 37,500 hours. About 50 companies currently use OutreachGenius, including fran- chise brands with multiple locations. Creating software that helps people has been Owasi’s goal ever since he learned about Bill Gates. Born and raised in Nigeria, Owasi said it was the Microsoft founder who inspired him to become a software engineer. Khoshkebari said he’s always enjoyed solving problems, so when he started writing computer code on his first day of Grade 9, he quickly became addicted. “Since Grade 9, I think I’ve coded every day or every other day — it’s something ridiculous like that,” said Khoshkebari, who was born in Iran and moved with his family to Winnipeg when he was five years old. OutreachGenius raised US$300,000 in seed funding earlier this year, which will aid Owasi, Khoshkebari and seven employees as they pursue their goal of expanding their client base to 10,000 businesses in the next two years. Most of that growth will come from franchise networks, Owasi said. “We’re very aggressive and we’re very bullish on this business.” aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca AARON EPP RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS David Owasi (right) and Pasha Khoshkebari, co-founders of OutreachGenius, in the Winnipeg offices of the two-year-old AI sales automation for businesses company. Johnston Group announces founder’s sons as co-presidents JOHNSTON Group Inc. has two new leaders. Matt Johnston and Will Johnston have been appointed co-presidents at the group benefit plan administrator, which is headquartered in Winnipeg. The two men, who are the sons of founder David Johnston, previously served in senior management roles at the company. They succeed former president Dave Angus, who retired at the end of September after nine years in the role. Started in 1983, the Johnston Group has become one of the largest group benefit plan third-party administra- tors in the country. As of September 2024, it served 35,000 businesses across Canada, with $850 million in premiums under its ad- ministration. In an interview with the Free Press that month, Angus praised Matt and Will Johnston for their contributions to the company. “They’re brilliant,” Angus said. “They come from the Johnston family culture, so it’s nice to have that ground- ing in terms of the future.” The company employs more than 400 people. — Free Press staff ;