Boeing Aircraft in Winnipeg

We often get questions from elsewhere such as: What do you do in Winnipeg? It isn't innocent question. It is a loaded one that generally suggests that the person can't figure out how anyone lives in Winnipeg. In other words, what jobs exist there?

Well, the answer is that Winnipeg has a diversified economy. We have needed it to protect us from the vagaries of commodity prices, booms and busts in different business enterprises, a more difficult climate and geographic isolation.

In other words, we sell insurance to the point that a number of our companies are the nation's biggest. Over the decades we have come to dominate bus manufacturing. We have strong positions in ag manufacturing, services, trading. The e-commerce side has taken off. We punch above our weight in TV, film and production. Medical research is quite prominent.

We also build and repair aircraft. We have done it a long time. We're good at it. So much so that one of the biggest and most successful aircraft manufacturers Boeing has one of the biggest plants in North America here in Winnipeg. Not Montreal, not Toronto, not Calgary or Vancouver. Winnipeg.

Boeing is going through a patch right now but rest assured, Winnipeg will be part of its recovery. And they will always have the company of several other big players in the air business here.

So when someone asks what we do in Winnipeg, tell them we do everything here. And that's just the business side. You should ask about our weekends.