Winnipeg wipes out funding for CentreVenture but says agency won't be dissolved

The City of Winnipeg plans to stop funding for CentreVenture next year, but the mayor says there are no plans to wind down the arm's-length downtown development agency.

The 2018 budget calls for the city to reduce its annual operating grant to CentreVenture from $600,000 to zero. The move reduces total city funding for economic development to $1.5 million.

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Mayor Brian Bowman said the city is not trying to dissolve CentreVenture by starving it of revenue. He said the agency is in the process of putting together a business plan that will make it self-sustainable.

​"We're not looking at winding up CentreVenture. They've been doing great work in the community and we want that to continue," Bowman said Friday at a press conference.

The mayor and CentreVenture got off to a rocky start early during his term as mayor, when he accused the agency of cooking up an opaque deal to transfer a parcel of downtown land that's now part of True North Square.

This led to a rift between Bowman and True North chairman Mark Chipman, who had endorsed Bowman's mayoral run. The mayor eventually reconciled with both Chipman and CentreVenture.

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A council-requested review of CentreVenture's mandate in 2015 has led to the agency's new business plan, which has been completed and submitted to the city — but has not been made public.

Neither the mayor nor CentreVenture president and CEO Angela Mathieson would say where the agency will receive its funding once the city grant is eliminated next year.

"We have a business plan approved by our board that eliminates the grant in lieu of other revenue sources. The city is currently reviewing that plan and we are working with city staff to prepare a report for council consideration on the plan in 2018," Mathieson said in a statement on Friday.​

The province, meanwhile, announced last week that it may restructure economic-development efforts to avoid duplication between several agencies. On Wednesday, Premier Brian Pallister said potential investors in Manitoba are faced with dozens of investment and business organizations and several meetings before they can bring money to the province.

It's not clear whether CentreVenture is a target for consolidation in a review that may also include Economic Development Winnipeg, Travel Manitoba, Yes Winnipeg, World Trade Centre Winnipeg and the bilingual trade organization ANIM.

Bowman said he welcomes the provincial exercise but made it clear he believes Economic Development Winnipeg is "the organization that's been providing us with the best value for taxpayer dollars," singling out its help on a bid to bring Amazon's second headquarters to Winnipeg.

"If there are efficiencies that we can find for better outcomes for the single taxpayer we serve, I think that's a discussion," Bowman said. "But what I want to make sure is the City of Winnipeg is at the table in making these decisions, that we don't lean about it after the decisions are being made and have downloading as a result."​