The pairing is seemingly a win-win for both companies, said Kiran Pedada, a University of Manitoba marketing professor.

It provides HMV, which Pedada calls a “well-reputed music store,” less risk to re-enter Canada than if it were to open its own brick-and-mortar buildings.

“I think it’s a good part of a comeback from them.”

Read more

The report, titled Business Law and Private Enterprise in Manitoba: 2023, includes relevant research findings and commentary on Indigenous Business Development, COVID-19, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Legislative Developments, Artificial Intelligence, and more.  The report is useful for individuals, firms, organizations, academics, students, and political leaders whose work and interests lie at the intersection of Manitoba business and law.  The report also highlights the lengthy list of contributions and accomplishments achieved by the Centre throughout 2023.  Click here to read the report in full.

Showcasing Scholars

As part of the Centre’s mission to attract top-level business law students for JD, LLM and MHR (Masters of Human Rights) graduate studies, during the 2023–2024 academic year, the Centre dedicated $39,000 for six Research Assistantships for LLM students to study business law at the University of Manitoba.  It also provided financial support to two tax law students to attend conferences in Montreal, Quebec and Geneva, Switzerland. Matthew London received the distinguished Canadian Tax Foundation – Bert Wolfe Nitikman Foundation Award for the Western Provinces for his paper titled “Incentivizing Giving via the Removal of Capital Gains Tax from the Donation of Private Company Shares.” Isha Khandelwal attended the United Nations 27th Session of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

The report also showcases samples of the important business law research undertaken by several law professors at the University of Manitoba.  Among them include Dr. Bryan Schwartz, Professor Martine Dennie, Dr. Bruce Curran, Professor Darcy MacPherson, Dr. Michelle Gallant, and Dr. Katie Szilagyi.  The report goes further to highlight important publications related to business law, including Dr. John D. McCamus’ piece in the Desautels Review for Private Enterprise and the Law, an imprint of the renowned Manitoba Law Journal.

The report also invites readers to engage with content on the Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law website.  For example, the Rod Senft lectures, presented in conjunction with The Stu Clark Centre for Innovation and Enterprise at the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba focus on issues in Family Business Law and feature scholars such as David Asper, Harvey Secter, and Sprague Richardson.  The lectures are available for online viewing here.

Indigenous Business Development

As the number of Indigenous businesses in Manitoba continues to grow, Indigenous entrepreneurs and students require greater support and resources.  Among other insights, the report discusses the federal government’s goal for all Federal departments and agencies to acquire from Indigenous firms a minimum of 5% of the total value of contracts, a percentage equivalent to the proportion of Indigenous people in Canada’s population.  Furthermore, non-Indigenous businesses will be working with Indigenous businesses more often, building relationships as suppliers, customers, competitors, or partners.  The report also discusses reconciliation legislation such as the federal United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and Manitoba’s The Path to Reconciliation Act.

Economic Energy

In 2023, Manitoba’s entrepreneurial scene thrived in part due to a supportive start-up community comprised of incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms, including The Stu Clark Centre for Innovation and Enterprise.  Individuals should also be on the lookout for Manitoba’s thriving Information Technology (IT) sector and emerging opportunities in clean energy and biotechnology.  Additionally, manufacturing industries such as aerospace and transportation equipment continue to be important parts of Manitoba’s economy, contributing significantly to the number of jobs and GDP in the province.

COVID-19

While COVID-19 has presented several challenges such as labor shortages and global supply chain disruptions, Manitoba has bounced back in a significant way.  The province tallied a real GDP amount of $68.647 billion in 2022 and is expected to surpass $70 billion in 2023.  In the report, the Centre discusses how COVID-19 impacted Canadian businesses and legal systems, creating a blueprint for “a justice system of the future”.

Looking ahead to the future, legal issues are expected to emerge in several unique areas: artificial intelligence; the gig economy; data privacy and cybersecurity; social media; corporate governance and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG); and blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Further discussion of these legal issues are available on the Desautels website.

Conclusion

Business Law and Private Enterprise in Manitoba: 2023 serves as a comprehensive analysis and summary of important topics at the intersection of private enterprise and business law.  The report provides valuable research findings on traditional and emerging opportunities and challenges in Manitoba and across Canada, while predicting an exciting and expanding future for business in Manitoba.

This report could not have been created without Marcel A. Desautels, the Centre’s benefactor, who passed away on January 31, 2023 at the age of 88.  His contributions in establishing the Centre continue to make a positive impact on the lives and academic pursuits of countless individuals at the University of Manitoba and beyond.  The Centre will continue to embody Mr. Desautels’ vision of integrated synergies between business, law, and the humanities for years to come.

Follow the Desautels Centre on X (@DesautelsCentre) and LinkedIn (The Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law). 

The Desautels Centre thanks the individuals who contributed to this report: Jenna Chemerika, BA; Yvan Guy Larocque, CD, JD, LLM; Darcy MacPherson, LLB, LLM; Nick Noonan, JD, LLM; Laura Reimer, MPA, PhD; Natella Roshkoshna, LLM, PhD.

The University of Manitoba Economic Impact Study 2023 (produced by Malatest and commissioned by UM), demonstrates the various ways UM both directly and indirectly contributes to Manitoba’s economy, while returning real value to the province and our communities.

For every dollar of funding the Province of Manitoba invests in UM, it receives a return of $4.10, and that doesn’t include the larger impacts associated with alumni and research contributions.

“This economic impact study reinforces that the University of Manitoba is indeed the university for Manitoba,” said UM president and vice-chancellor Michael Benarroch. “We don’t take our responsibility as stewards of public funds lightly at UM. Our goal is to train, prepare and inspire the next generation of leaders in Manitoba to enrich our communities through cutting-edge research and education, advancing Reconciliation, and workforce-ready skills.”

UM trains the talent Manitoba needs

The study found that nearly three-quarters of UM graduates stay and contribute to Manitoba’s economy. Additionally, workers with a degree from UM earned significantly more than those without a post-secondary degree and had an estimated direct economic impact of nearly $1.75 billion.

“When we look to hire top talent, we want to hire a UM grad,” said Paul Soubry [BComm(Hons)/84], President and Chief Executive Officer of NFI Group Inc. “The University of Manitoba’s economic and research contributions make it a major player in the growth and success of our province and our ability to develop and retain an innovative workforce here in Manitoba.”

As Manitoba’s only research-intensive university, with graduates employed as leaders in every sector of the economy, UM’s value to the province can be felt by every Manitoban in some way.

“I’m not surprised to see such impressive numbers in this economic impact report. I truly believe UM’s impact in our province is immeasurable.”
-Paul Soubry, President and Chief Executive Officer of NFI Group Inc.

UM research spurs innovation and economic growth

UM is responsible for half of all research and development that takes place in Manitoba, and the research impact attributed to UM for 2022-23 is nearly $3 billion.

UM research is vital to our communities and plays a crucial role in flood mitigation, agricultural best practice, stemming the spread of Ebola and COVID-19, stalling the progress of Alzheimer’s and helping prepare for climate change in the North.

“The University of Manitoba is critical to the success of our province and its people. I am convinced that investments into post-secondary education pay significant dividends to our economy, our communities, and our quality of life in Manitoba,” said Jeannette Montufar-MacKay, Founding Partner & CEO, MORR Transportation Consulting, Ltd.

Some key findings from the report include:

• The research impact attributed to UM for 2022-23 is nearly $3 billion
• The Province of Manitoba sees a $4.10 return for every dollar invested in UM
• Nearly three-quarters of UM graduates stay and contribute to Manitoba’s economy
• UM generated an estimated $1.2 billion in direct spending in 2022-23
• UM’s direct annual economic contribution to the province is estimated at just under $1.8 billion
• UM’s estimated total economic impact for 2022-23 was greater than 9 per cent of Manitoba’s 2021 GDP
• The university brought in $124.9 million in revenue from federal sources in 2022-23
• The direct impact of the UM alumni education premium was estimated at $1.75 billion in 2022-23

“I’m not surprised to see such impressive numbers in this economic impact report. I truly believe UM’s impact in our province is immeasurable,” said Soubry.

Read the full report and learn more about UM research and programs on our economic impact web page.

Fostering Clinics and Aiding Research

The Desautels Center will stimulate and foster clinical work for law students and research in private enterprise and the law by legal and business scholars. Dean of Law, Dr. Richard Jochelson has announced that the newly-created Desautels Centre Advisory Committee (led by Associate Dean (Academic) Dr. Virginia Torrie) will be instrumental in developing the immediate intellectual and academic infrastructure of the Centres’ future endeavours. 

Over the next several months, the Centre will begin to unfurl a critical list of goals and projects, to help foster training for law students interested in family-owned business and start-up business clinical practice, and to make these pursuits a cornerstone of the UM Faculty of Law experience. Plans include the development of a business clinic as a critical experiential training ground for future lawyers, the development of mooting and debating opportunities, and new course development under the auspices of the Centre.

Future steps include the development of an innovation hub to house the clinical activities of the Centre, as well as the recruitment of a permanent Faculty position to provide stewardship over the clinical and academic side of the Centre. “The Centre seeks to develop synergies between law and private enterprise to give future lawyers and their clients a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing privately-held businesses,” Torrie noted.

The Centre has also issued a call for applications for a new seed fund, which like each of the initiatives of the Centre, is funded by a generous endowment established in 2003 by alumnus Marcel A. Desautels [BA/1955; LLB/1959; LLM/1965; LLD/1999]. Successful applicants will have funds in place for the 2021 – 2022 academic year.

Increasing impact for the Desautels Centre

“The Committee is in the process of developing a website and social media presence that will share news of the work it is doing this year,” said Jochelson. “So far, the work includes developing a Desautels open access journal for law and business, which will seek interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary contributions.”

Further, Jochelson explained, an online business case blog will be created where business and law students can discuss case studies or recent developments in this area of law. Finally, a private enterprise consolidated cases reporter will be set up as a tool to assist laypersons as well as the professional legal practicing community.

Supporting and Building Community

Connections and advancements already underway by the Committee are manifold, including sponsoring four delegates from the law or business student body to attend the upcoming Conflict Resolution Day Conference taking place October 20, 2021 online. The Desautels Centre is also supporting another online conference this fall – the 5^th Annual Commercial Law Symposium, which is being co-organized with Dr. Anna Lund (Faculty of Law, University of Alberta).

The Centre will be connecting with the Canadian Business History Association to support early-career researchers working on private enterprise and law. A collaboration with the Banking and Finance Law Review will involve the Centre hosting a Desautels Centre Fintech student writing competition.  Each of these will help develop a constellation of private enterprise links nationally.

A Desautels Lecture Series is being planned for this year, and will be open to the public, but especially made available to law and business students. On January 25th at 12:00 p.m., there will be a Zoom lecture featuring Prof. Matthew Bellamy (Carleton University, Department of History) speaking on part of his book, Brewed in the North: A History of Labatt’s (Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019). His talk will look at the family business origins of Labatt’s brewing and the company’s operations through the prohibition era. This talk will thus draw together private enterprise, law, and history – in keeping with the vision of the Desautels Centre – and show the power of multidisciplinary approaches to understanding businesses.

Finally, the Faculty will develop new Desautels courses including accounting for start-up business ventures, lawyers in the sector, and family owned start-ups, and will offer workshops to law and business students and the general public on: family-owned businesses, start-up ventures in Manitoba, rural business planning and operations in Manitoba, and more.

Not many professor-written books aimed at academia end up competing among the popular presses known for their novels, poetry and travel fiction. For Torrie’s book to place among books as varied as memoirs of intergenerational trauma, a football championship season and childhood lessons learned from nature, speaks to her already-proven talent as a teacher, skilled in making complicated matters accessible.

“Since the book deals with a complex subject, I aimed to make the prose as accessible as possible – using plain language and providing clear definitions of technical terms,” said Torrie. “This made the book accessible to the widest audience possible, including members of the public who are interested in business, history and finance.”

Even before the book was officially published, Torrie had been invited to speak about it as an  Academic Visitor to the EW Barker Centre for Law and Business, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore in the fall of 2019. Two further speaking engagements originally scheduled for the Spring of 2020 had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, but were to have been at the Department of Law at the London School of Economics in the UK, and at the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law, Leiden Law School at Leiden University in The Netherlands. With the emergence of virtual events, Torrie has been able to give presentations online including one to BMO’s Lending Practice Group on May 19, 2021.

Now, after a year of receiving international reviews from scholars across the globe from the US to the UK, Torrie will be the ‘Author’ at an Author Meets Reader session, titled “A Socio-Political Lens – Corporate Restructuring Law” at this weekend’s Law and Society Conference on Saturday May 29 at 1:00 p.m.

When an organization has a problem or challenge, the defined process for asking why and determining what to do is called business analysis. By definition, a business analyst (BA) is someone who performs the tasks of business analysis as defined in the Business Analysis Book of Knowledge (BABOK 3- the latest version), the textbook for the Extended Education Business Analysis program at the University of Manitoba.

According to the federal government’s Canadian Occupational Projection System, business analysis is one of the top 10 occupations with the largest number of job openings, from 2017 to 2026. The Extended Education program was developed to meet this incredible demand in Manitoba, Canada, and beyond.

A huge demand
“The local demand is huge,” says Kevin Haines [BA/96, BComm/99], CBAP, President of the Winnipeg Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), the recognized professional and accrediting organization for business analysis. Extended Education is an IIBA endorsed education provider. “Online Business Systems has the most certified business analysts in town. Consulting companies are always hiring to keep up with demand.”

Prospects for careers in business analysis are great, says James Fatoki, CBAP and Consultant for the Business Analysis program. “You take your knowledge and experience, layer the program on top, and get to work. The beauty of it is there are so many industries you can plug into. None of your previous knowledge is wasted. I have worked in many industries from financial to insurance and government. There is a good demand out there.”

Every organization needs a business analyst, and everyone is looking for a good one, says Maureen McVey, Ottawa area-based CBAP and Consultant for the Business Analysis program. A business analyst since before the role was defined in BABOK and as commonly recognized as it is today, McVey was among the international professionals who founded IIBA.

Managing change
“Business Analysts are agile professionals who help organizations keep pace with the rapidly evolving world of the twenty-first century by identifying the responsive changes necessary for them to flourish,” says Paul Jenkins, Manager, Delivery, Extended Education. “Their skill-set and expertise give them the ability to identify problems and recommend solutions often based in technology, but that also involve changes in business strategies, processes, and policies.”

Change is happening
“With the rapid pace of business evolution, there are always new challenges to meet, and we need people to facilitate the change that needs to happen,” says Haines. “A significant majority of CEOs recognize the important need to foster a culture of innovation, respond quickly to technological opportunities and invest in new processes, as only those companies and industries accepting the challenge to transform themselves will be more competitive, gain efficiency and ensure the loyalty of customers.”

Fatoki adds, “Defining issues and problems is critical, whether a business accepts it or not. Without proper business analysis, it simply becomes trial and error. Companies will spend money, suffer financial losses, and lose ground in a competitive market.”

Professional connections
Business Analysis students pursue professional certification and make professional connections through IIBA. The IIBA Winnipeg Chapter was the first chapter, founded at the same time as the organization itself. Winnipeg is one of over 120 chapters in over 40 countries.

With IIBA, there are three levels of professional certification. Students in the Business Analysis program can start to work towards achieving the first level, Entry Certificate in business analysis (ECBA), during their studies.

No organization can do without the business analysis skillset, says McVey. It’s something that can be developed, building on your education and experience. The program is a good start.

The demand for business analysts is very strong, Haines says. “The IIBA helps to support those taking certifications and to provide the network to meet other analysts, mentors and employers. We are very excited that the U of M is providing a great option to learn the hard and soft skills of business analysis as we grow our local, Canadian and global communities.”

Learn more about this online program.

Certificate in Business Analysis

As published in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Born in Vancouver, his family resettled in Winnipeg after the war, and Everett worked at his father’s auto company in Winnipeg. By 25, Everett was vice-president of Dominion Motors and had received his law degree from the University of Manitoba. He decided to launch a chain of gas stations and came up with the idea of installing them at grocery stores, starting in Winnipeg. The iconic DOMO Gas expanded westward and, with hundreds employed, became a major industry player.

Everett then waded into federal politics, becoming—at 39—the youngest person appointed to the Senate. Outspoken on many issues such as poverty, inflation, regional development, and the role of the Senate, Everett crossed the floor twice, eventually sitting as an Independent. Perhaps his most famous act of integrity was his decision to relinquish his annual salary—a decision lauded nationwide.

Following his retirement from the Senate, Everett devoted himself to his business interests and philanthropy, donating widely within his home community. He was inducted into the Manitoba Business Hall of Fame in 2017. An honorary degree was bestowed on him by the University of Manitoba, also in 2017.

“Douglas Everett was a shining example of integrity and leadership in action,” says David Barnard, president and vice-chancellor, U of M. “Beyond his entrepreneurship and forging an iconic Manitoba business, he spoke his mind on how a government should serve its citizens.”