When Assiniboine Community College (ACC) set its sights on dramatically expanding agriculture programs, Don Penny, co-founder of MNP and a local success story, was one of their first calls.
“He gave us his unvarnished opinion,” college president Mark Frison recalled. “It was helpful. He gave some great advice, not only about how to approach the project, but how to talk to folks inside and outside the sector about the importance of agriculture and how we should approach the fundraising.”
Then Penny agreed to act as an honorary co-chair of the coming campaign.
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Why it matters: ACC is looking to position itself as a major provider of skilled labour in the agriculture and agri-food sectors with its promised Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
The late Don Penny, the “P” in “Meyers Norris Penny” — the original name for the national accountancy and business advisory firm — had a history with ACC.
In 2017, two years before his death, Penny was the first to receive an ACC Courage Award, which honoured the entrepreneur’s willingness to risk, his vision for his western Manitoba company and his community focus, according to the college.
He was a Brandon local, with a recognizable name both for his company and his work on various boards and organizations, including Brandon University, YMCA, Indian and Metis Friendship Centre and the United Way. Brandon was the headquarters of ACC (and home to two of the college’s major campuses) and the launch point for MNP firm.
The first office opened in downtown Brandon in 1958, a location still in operation, although MNP’s head office has since shifted to Calgary.
In 2005, Penny was named to the Order of Canada specifically for his extensive community work, as well as his mentorship of young professionals in his field.
“This is where we say Don Penny’s entrepreneurial spirit and energy really ignited,” current MNP CEO Jason Tuffs said of the city.
Today, the company has almost 120 locations and more than 7,700 employees nation-wide, in Canada’s largest cities and in small prairie towns.
Gift to ACC
The company says it hopes to honour Penny’s entrepreneurial legacy. In June, MNP announced a $1 million gift to ACC, which will include work towards a “collaboration zone” to encourage novel solutions as different corners of the ag sector come together.
“This collaboration zone will benefit everyone who is keen to learn, discover and collaborate,” Tuffs said. “It’s for curious minds, for innovators who want to contribute to the growth of agriculture in Manitoba and in Canada. This space is for everyone who, like Don, has a vision they’d like to share, nurture and ultimately bring to life.”
“It will be a pleasure to see his legacy live on through this centre,” Frison said. “Don understood that Canadian agriculture is driven by people working together, and this generous contribution in his honour will be transformational for the agricultural industry and in the lives of so many students.”
The western hub of ag education in Manitoba has plans to expand both its facility and its program options in the agricultural stream. In 2020, the college announced that the campus would soon boast a Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
That facility will form the new heart of ACC’s ag and ag-adjacent programs, the college has said. Programs ranging from the long-established agribusiness diploma to developing programs in mechatronics, chemical technology, food science and agriculturally focused commerce will be offered. Student spaces are expected to nearly triple, up to 800 from its current 300.
On top of Penny’s “collaboration zone,” the centre in general has been pitched as a space of academic and industrial co-operation. Companies are active in developing research and course material, in efforts to tailor programs for the specific labour needs of Manitoba agribusiness.
It will also be the new home for programs like land and water management, sustainable food systems, GIS and communications engineering technology — a program that dovetails with the agribusiness program to develop novel technologies for farms.
“In the last number of years, there’s been an incredible amount of external investment in food processing and other pieces of the agricultural ecosystem that really help drive the economy of Manitoba forward,” Frison said. “The biggest challenge standing in the way is skills, talent and knowledge.”
According to ag labour data collection project AgriLMI, the labour gap in Canadian agriculture was at about 16,500 jobs as of 2017. The organization projected those numbers would double by 2029.
That labour gap underpins many of ACC’s goals for expanding its ag programs. Recently pea processing giant Roquette pointed to its role in developing the incoming food science and chemical technology diploma programs.
At the time, spokespeople for that company pointed to the high-tech jobs needed in the highly automated new plant in Portage la Prairie, jobs of the type they hope ACC’s new programs will accommodate.
The expansion, and the philosophy of collaboration, melds nicely with Penny’s personal philosophies and that of the company he left behind, Tuffs said.
“He was one to lead both with his head and his heart,” he said. “Don believed in people. He believed in discovery, in technology and, of, course, in hard work.
“For us, the fit couldn’t be more ideal. For those of you who know Don, you know that he would love it and would want to spend a great deal of time here interacting with students, with faculty and with industry experts on solving problems.”
Countdown to breaking ground
MNP’s $1-million donation is the latest boost from local businesses to see the Prairie Innovation Centre break ground.
Earlier this year, ACC announced it had reached $11 million in donations for the project. The college has estimated a price tag of $60 million, with $15 million tagged for private fundraising.
There is no fixed date for start of construction.
