Manitoba premier says “Mine, baby, mine” as he signals regulation pullback
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WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s premier says he aims to streamline mining regulations to help the industry drive the economy.
“Mine, baby, mine. I think that needs to be our motto here in Manitoba,” Wab Kinew said Tuesday at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event in Winnipeg.
While the Port of Churchill expansion is still his flagship project, Kinew said Manitoba should also be following the resource-based growth model of Saskatchewan.
“There’s a lot of interest in advancing mining activity in Manitoba, and I’d just like us to be able to make the most of the resources we have.”
He said the NDP government, elected in late 2023, has been focused on health care but that it’s now ready to look at regulations in the resource sector.
“We’re now at the stage where it’s like, OK, any regulation in the mining space that is not conducive to advancing the health and safety, or respecting the Constitution, why do we have that?”
Kinew did not provide specific examples of which rules he might cut.
He said the province has the potential to boost production of potash, nickel and other critical minerals as well as naturally occurring hydrogen.
The province shipped $1.4 billion worth of mineral production in 2022, representing four per cent of Manitoba’s exports, according to the government.
Kinew has also been pushing towards an ambitious 2030 target to export natural gas from the Churchill port, and said Canada could look to examples abroad where development has happened faster.
“Russia does this. China does this. Our global competitors in the international economy, they do things like this. They dream big, they set aggressive timelines, they build big infrastructure to make their people better off.”
Obby Khan, leader of the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, said the premier was looking to the wrong examples.
“China and Russia do not have the same environmental controls, the same regulations we do, the same consultation we do, the same labour rights we do,” said Khan.
“The premier did not meet the moment when he talks about mining; he says he’s been busy fixing health care.”
Khan also raised concerns about how the province just last week turned down a major investment in the province when Kinew said no to a large-scale data centre.
“This company was coming forward with $4 billion into this province … it would have created thousands of jobs,” said Khan.
He said he would like a clear answer from the premier on why he’s not moving forward with the project.
Kinew says the massive drain on power from that facility would not have come close to balancing the environmental impact or the number of jobs created.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2026.