The City of Selkirk has entered into a land option to purchase agreement with Canadian Premium Sand Inc., that puts the company’s plan to locate North America’s only patterned solar glass manufacturing plant here one step closer to reality.
Selkirk Council approved entering into the agreement at their September 6th meeting, this after months of working with the company to ensure the location was a good fit for both the community and CPS.
Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson says the CPS decision to locate in Selkirk is a strong indicator of the city’s growing reputation as a place business want to be.
“This is the largest industrial investment into Selkirk in more than a hundred years and it speaks volumes of the work of our administration and the reputation they’ve earned,” Johannson said.
“We’re pleased to be working with Canadian Premium Sand, a company that could have located its plant anywhere in North America but chose Selkirk. It’s an incredible vote of confidence in our city that will bring hundreds of jobs here. Congratulations to CPS and our team. It’s a great time to be in Selkirk.”
300 local jobs and economic growth for the community
Duane Nicol, CAO for the City of Selkirk, said the plant represents an investment of $400 plus million into the city and the creation of 300 full time jobs at the plant.
“This puts Selkirk on the map for the new green economy, and there’s going to be spinoff industry that’s going to come here, benefitting the city and the province, bringing more jobs and more economic growth to the community,” Nicol said.
“This will have a positive impact on Selkirk for generations to come. The location of the CPS solar glass manufacturing plant in Selkirk will be as impactful on our city as the mill was all those years ago.”
Sale conditional on environmental licensing
The offer to purchase is for a 121-acre parcel located off Hwy. 9 in the city’s original industrial park. Nicol says the land purchase options secures the property for CPS and allows the city to put conditions on the purchase that will protect the city and its citizens.
Before the sale can be finalized, CPS must work with the province to establish its environmental license.
“This is a large parcel of land in the city and Council wanted to ensure that the interests of citizens were protected in this transparent process. This agreement makes the sale conditional to CPS getting the environmental licensing. It also includes provisions for buying the land back at the sale price in case the project does not go forward for some reason,” said Nicol.
Tim Feduniw, the city’s Director of Sustainable Economic Development, says Selkirk was a fit for CPS because of the advantages of our city’s location equally important is the city’s attitude and commitment to sustainable development.
“The alignment with our approach to development and building a green economy really fits where CPS wants to go as a company and where Selkirk is going as a community,” Feduniw said.
“All of those things combine to make Selkirk an ideal place for the CPS operation.”
CPS vision for sustainable development aligns with Selkirk’s core values
Glenn Leroux, President, and CEO of CPS, confirms the city’s physical location played a big role in the decision to locate here. It’s close to where their sand reserves are, it’s serviced by rail, close to major highways and it has natural gas.
The labour pool available in Selkirk and nearby communities was attractive, as was the proximity to universities and Red River College in Winnipeg.
“Selkirk has all these attributes going for it and layered on top of all of this is the City of Selkirk’s vision for sustainable development. Their vision of how they want their city to develop with coordinated industry and residential planning, shows they know that you really can’t grow a community if you don’t have jobs and an industrial base. This just fit perfectly,” Leroux said.
He’d driven by the parcel of land off Hwy. 9 countless times and one day something clicked in his head.
“I’d driven by that property probably 20 times. When we started to look for a place for the glass factory, I went ‘wait a minute, who owns that piece?’ I quickly found out the city did, and Tim was the first one I ended up talking to and the reception we got…the amount of support we got from the City of Selkirk was astounding,” he said.
“It was genuine, it was true enthusiasm and I think it was because we fit what they were looking for, an anchor industry that could spawn the development of more related, sustainable industries because we are there or just further expansion of glass making.”
Positioned to support industrial expansion and industrial growth
Nicol said the interest by CPS validates the city’s decision seven years ago to establish a dedicated sustainable economic development department.
“We saw the importance of having a dedicated sustainable economic development department. We created the department and we invested in our core infrastructure to be ready to support industrial expansion and facilitate economic growth that benefits our community over the long run,” Nicol said.
“When CPS came to us, considering locations, we were ready to meet with them to work with them. Tim has done a phenomenal amount of work to get them introduced to the right players in the province to respond to their needs, to demonstrate that Selkirk is the ideal place for them to look. It’s one thing to be the ideal place. It’s another thing for businesses to know that we’re the ideal place.”
Deputy Premier and Minister of Economic Development, Cliff Cullen says he is very excited that this project has achieved this significant milestone.
“This project embodies the inherent advantage Manitoba has as a global investment destination as the world pursues decarbonization. Manitoba’s abundant mineral resources and low-cost green, renewable energy to process those minerals into finished products, are increasingly attracting the attention of global businesses and investors”.
Leroux said he expects they’ll be breaking ground on the solar glass facility by spring of 2023.
