Province, feds give CentrePort $3.5M Expected to be Canada's first foreign trade zone
The federal and Manitoba governments have taken a multi-million-dollar step towards creating Canada's first foreign trade zone.
Premier Gary Doer and Stockwell Day, minister of international trade and the Asia-Pacific Gateway, announced $3.5 million in joint funding for CentrePort Canada at the Richardson International Airport Thursday evening.
They also announced a pair of pilot projects. The first will enable CentrePort to become Canada's first foreign trade zone (FTZ) by providing simplified one-stop shopping for businesses interacting with CentrePort, while the second will raise awareness of policies supporting international trade.
Stockwell Day announces funding at airport. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
One of the main objectives is to entice overseas companies to ship goods to Manitoba, where they can be stored without duty costs before being sent on to the U.S.
"We have location, location, location and now we're working on focus, focus, focus," Doer said, hours after finishing his last question period as premier. "We've got it all. We've just got to make it happen, to become the best inland port in Canada."
One-year-old CentrePort is gearing up to run an inland port, concentrating export-oriented manufacturing, warehousing and multi-modal distribution activities around the airport.
Diane Gray, the newly-appointed CEO of CentrePort, said a foreign trade zone in Winnipeg would compete on a level playing field with counterparts in Kansas City and Dallas-Fort Worth in the U.S. and with Guanajuato, Mexico.
"If you're a car manufacturer and bringing in parts from Mexico, the U.S. and Japan to an inland port, you don't pay duties or taxes until after you assemble the car and it's shipped for sale in the domestic market. You don't have to upfront taxes for goods that haven't sold yet," she said.
Barry Rempel, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority, said Thursday's announcement is good news for Canada, Manitoba and the airport.
"Our customers have been saying for a long time that we need to be globally competitive in foreign trade zones. Canada was the only one of the G20 countries that didn't have foreign trade zones like this," he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
What is CentrePort?
IT'S a private-led corporation that was created a year ago by provincial legislation to develop an inland port adjacent to the Richardson International Airport. Thus far, more than $400 million in infrastructure and other support have been invested in projects to develop the port. The most significant is $212.5-million for the construction of CentrePort Canada Way, a high-speed corridor connecting the inland port to the Perimeter Highway.
What's so special about a Foreign Trade Zone?
MANUFACTURERS in the zone can import parts duty-free that are to be included in finished goods destined for export. Taxes and duties are only paid on the finished goods. This setup helps companies with their cash flows and should help create jobs in Winnipeg.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 9, 2009 A5
