Manitoba mulls ‘terrible’ contract with U.S. firm

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/02/2025 (220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — The threat of a trade war with Canada’s closest ally has the Manitoba government eyeing procurement processes and U.S. contracts — one of which runs online park pass purchases and is set to expire this spring.

“We have a terrible contract signed by the PCs with a Texas-based company,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters on Monday, minutes before it was announced that United States President Donald Trump was delaying the introduction of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods by 30 days.

“It doesn’t make any sense, whatsoever. Shouldn’t we be paying a Manitoba company to enjoy Manitoba?”

The provincial government awarded three contracts to U.S. companies that do not operate Winnipeg offices in December, per a Winnipeg Free Press analysis of the latest available monthly disclosure report.

Lake Mary, Fla., software company CentralSquare Technologies entered a $30,000 agreement.

Cengage Learning Inc., an international educational content and technology company in Boston, was tapped to fulfil roughly $16,000 worth of specialized services.

For the Record Ltd., also from Boston, and which advertises itself as a technology corporation that modernizes legal proceedings, was hired for just under $16,000.

However, Kinew singled out Manitoba’s agreement with Aspira, an outdoor recreation software company headquartered in Dallas, this week.

The contract is slated to expire in April, but there remains an option to extend it for two consecutive one-year terms.

The former Progressive Conservative government hired Aspira in April 2019 to launch virtual retail sales of park passes and fishing and hunting licences as of 2020.

New administrative fees — $4.50 per transaction — were introduced in exchange for the convenience of booking online. Since then, more than $7 million has gone stateside. Licences and permits were previously sold in-person at local retail outlets.

“(The premier) is trying to be economically nationalist or provincialist or whatever you want to say. That’s a strong instinct, but it goes a bit off the rails when you think, as the Americans or Trump, particularly, think, ‘We can do everything for ourselves,’” said Len Kuffert, a history professor who teaches a course titled “Canada and the World, 1867 to the Present” at the University of Manitoba.

Kuffert noted that specialization is “engrained in our economies” since buyers and taxpayers increasingly justify the best deal available, even if it requires outsourcing.

For the historian, present-day trading tensions are reminiscent of 1930, when then-Republican president Herbert Hoover introduced steep duties on roughly 20,000 goods entering the United States.

The policy was made in response to the stock market crash that took place one year earlier and the subsequent start of the Great Depression. Canada retaliated with its own protectionist measures.

“This tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs was very similar and it didn’t help anybody,” Kuffert said, adding it “deepened the despair” because many companies’ sales plummetted when they raised prices to account for new duties.

“This was tried — now, almost 100 years ago … Basic economics, like basic physics, hasn’t really changed in the time since.”

With the caveat that he cannot predict the future, the professor noted many of those who voted for Brexit are only now realizing the implications of the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union.

Kuffert suggested Americans may end up experiencing similar regrets if Trump follows through on his sweeping tariff threats against Canada and Mexico.

Trump has billed the measures as necessary to address “the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs” entering the U.S. He has also mused about turning Canada into the “51st state.”

As far as Manitoba’s premier is concerned, Canadians need to “chirp back” when the president makes jokes and rage-bait comments. “Maybe we should look at South Manitoba. Maybe we should looking at expanding our land base,” Kinew said as he did just that at the start of the week.

The premier also indicated the province was considering whether Tesla products should continue to be eligible under its electric vehicle rebate program.

The Aspira website indicates it has partnerships with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island.

The company did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but the Manitoba Parks fee schedule indicates a $4.50 administration charge is intact for the 2025 season.

The leader of the official Opposition called on Kinew to “be clear with Manitobans” and ensure they can buy permits and licences without disruption this spring.

The PCs have defended the agreement, saying its intention was to improve and simplify services and no Canadian companies were available to complete the project at the time.

» Winnipeg Free Press