Canada rolls out Prairie Partnership Initiative

Governments, businesses, communities to collaborate.

Canada's Prairie Partnership Initiative (PPI) has been rolled out to advance various projects and bolster supply chains across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) Eleanor Olszewski said: "The West has what the world wants – and what Canadians need – to prosper in a time of rapid global change.

"The Prairie Partnership Initiative is about unlocking that potential by working together. By working with governments, Indigenous partners, industry, and communities around the same table, we are advancing consequential projects and the businesses that support them across the Prairie Provinces, to drive Canada's economic strength."

With $145m (CA$200m) committed by PrairiesCan over a three-year period to priorities set out in the Building a Green Prairie Economy Act, PPI is poised to boost the government's impact in the region by unlocking further investment from other federal departments.

PPI's goals include driving job creation and export diversification, backing early-stage projects with significant economic potential, and attracting greater private sector involvement.

Secretary of State for Rural Development Buckley Belanger, who is from Saskatchewan, commented: "This federal Prairie Partnership Initiative is all about empowering PrairiesCan to unlock new opportunities, new investments, and new partnerships across our region.

"When the Prairies do well, Canada does well, and when federal departments sit down together with local leaders, farmers, and small business owners, we can move good ideas from the coffee shop conversation to shovels in the ground for the local projects – big and small – that our communities need.”

A flagship coordination and partnership mechanism, PPI will connect project proponents with PrairiesCan; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Transport Canada; Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Finance Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Indigenous Services Canada; Employment and Social Development Canada; and Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada.