Category Archives: Industry Development

Edmonton’s Greatest Decade is Now

Posted on by
Reply

As the year comes to a close and we look ahead with our resolutions, let’s vow to leave behind our criticism and resignation and commit to building a place of distinction, prosperity, and character.

Edmonton is on the cusp of its greatest decade – filled with unprecedented opportunity for youth and overflowing with unlimited prosperity for those willing to shift to a growth-oriented mindset. The next decade will see Edmonton as Canada’s:

  • Epicenter of artificial intelligence and life science innovation;
  • Nexus of the traditional and circular economies;
  • Heart of resource production and upgrading;
  • Hub for immigration and inclusion;
  • Centre for education and research excellence;
  • Archetype for affordability and social mobility; and
  • Leader for philanthropy and community connectedness.

Massive capital investments will continue to be made in the Edmonton region, building on Dow’s $11.5 billion net-zero ethylene cracking facility, Air Products’ $1.6 billon hydrogen facility, and paving the way for some of the largest Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) investments in North America. Net migration into the province will continue to drive consumption and the availability of labour. And our universities and colleges are accelerating the commercialization of highly skilled talent into the market.

No wonder the Conference Board of Canada anticipates that Edmonton’s growth will double the national average.

But wait.

Canada’s GDP is expected to drop from a paltry 1.2% growth in 2023 to a moribund 0.7% growth in 2024. Outperforming the national average can no longer be our goal. We can’t wake up every day and strive for mediocrity. This is our opportunity to lead, excel, and outperform.

To do so requires a shift in mindset – a 4% growth mindset – in everything we do. And an economic strategy that gets everyone pulling together in a unified direction.

I look forward to using this forum for some new thinking and writing – brainstorming and engagement – about opportunities and initiatives as to how Edmonton can take advantage of its greatest decade ahead.

Canada’s Budget for Edmonton Businesses

Posted on by
1

Last night at dinner, the discussion on the federal budget was deafening. Everyone was focused on the escalating debt and the deficit, all with spirited and good intention. But beyond the big looming debt number, not one business owner knew much about the details … the details of which are actually quite interesting.

Edmonton-based businesses have never cared much about the Federal Budget, and I totally respect the reasons why. Budgets have been for government folks, easterners, institutions and non-profits. Why would the federal budget come up in conversation, aside from taxes? What does the budget have to do with my business making money? How is the budget relevant to our day-to-day free-enterprise lives.

Part of me would love to continue asking those questions. But part of me knows that the world is changing and it’s not the smartest strategy to be left behind.

Every Edmonton-based business should read Budget 2017. I don’t mean read to simply find their new personal or corporate tax rates. But read it to understand the underlying policy and directional changes that will shape our country for the next decade or more. Budget 2017 doesn’t do much for the energy sector or for our current economic downturn, but the budget is unusually specific about the path forward and the emerging sectors that are expected to move Canada’s economy ahead.

Read it and engage; or ignore it and be left behind. Because in it, Budget 2017 has significant positive implications for Edmonton – Canada’s 5th largest, youngest, fastest growing municipality – that is being recognized as a major hub for new federal investment.

Beyond the significant support for affordable housing and predictable long-term investment for transit and infrastructure, as successfully championed by Mayor Don Iveson, this budget focused on building our economy through the solid combination of innovation and job creation. Of specific interest to Edmonton-based businesses should be:

  • $400 million over three years to be made available through the Business Development Bank for a new Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative to increase last-stage venture capital available to Canadian entrepreneurs (who submit proposals);
  • $1.4 billion in new financing support for Canada’s cleantech sector (equity finance, working capital and project finance) to promising clean technology firms who want to grow and expand;
  • $125 million to fund a pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence collaboration between Montreal, Toronto-Waterloo and Edmonton, with UofA’s AMII (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) recognized as one of the leading programs in the world;
  • $950 million over 5 years to support a small number of business-led innovation “superclusters” that have the greatest potential to accelerate economic growth;
  • 10,000 new Co-op positions for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) students;
  • Priority sectors for investment will include Advanced Manufacturing, Agri-food, Cleantech, Digital Industries, Health and Biological Sciences and Clean Energy Resources;
  • $7.8 million over two years to implement a new Global Talent Stream under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, as part of the Global Skills Strategy;
  • No changes to capital gain taxes or taxes on stock options, which will benefit the tech sector;
  • $50 million over two years for teaching initiatives to help children learn to code; and
  • $37.5 million per year funding made permanent to Destination Canada, Canada’s national tourism marketing organization, to continue its strong collaboration with industry partners to maximize the impacts of its marketing campaigns to draw in more tourists from abroad.

Now, I’m typically one of the first people to call for balanced budgets. However, if a fiscal stimulus and low interest rates are required to keep our national economy on a positive growth curve, which they are, then these are the areas that have the ability to stimulate a long-term change to business innovation and competitiveness which we so desperately need across the nation.

The programs listed above are very much in line with our priorities at EEDC, through our Investment & Trade, Tourism, Startup Edmonton, Tec Edmonton, Edmonton Research Park and Shaw Conference Centre teams. And these are our teams that connect with local businesses on a daily basis to help Edmonton-based companies understand and benefit from these new programs and sources of funding.

Fiscal stimulus and support programs are needed across the country for our businesses to grow and evolve, adopt new technologies, access new talent and new markets and improve competitiveness. It is part of a larger transition we need to be embracing, otherwise others will and folks like my dinner guests will be left behind.

Please take time to become informed, and see each of these programs as opportunities for your business. Once informed, please connect with us at EEDC to help connect you with some of these new opportunities.

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/plan/toc-tdm-en.html

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/bb/brief-bref-en.html

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/speech-discours/2017-03-22-en.html

Global Intention

Posted on by
Reply

After university, I decided to spend a year abroad – something every student should do before they enter the workforce and inherit the conventional view of possibilities. I headed for Japan, fascinated with how this country had emerged post-WWII as a technological and economic giant. I got lucky and was asked to teach at an elementary school just south of Osaka, and this is what I learned:

Every student in Japan is taught at the elementary school age that they live on an island and that the only way to prosper is to produce goods and services for export and trade. That foundational understanding drives their whole curriculum and policy environment, and results in an entire country that is globally oriented.

Pause. Think about that for a minute. Think about the global awareness, alertness, competitiveness and connectedness that would result from multiple generations becoming globally engaged. What if:

Every student in Alberta is taught at the elementary school age that they live in a land-locked province and that the only way to prosper is to produce goods and services for export and trade. That foundational understanding would then drive the entire curriculum and policy environment, and result in an entire province that is globally oriented and competitive.

This is emerging as my new mission, core to our economic strategy, that would result in a totally new mindset, and that would be an organizing mechanism for driving wealth and prosperity for generations to come.

And that is what we need, a new mindset. For far too many years we have been far too complacent – thinking, building, trading, spending and squabbling within our provincial borders. We have developed a regional mindset, far too reliant on government, and far too disconnected from high-growth markets around the world.

The only sustainable diversification strategy is the diversification of revenue by geographic market – becoming global players – being engaged in emerging markets like China, India, Africa and Brazil that will dominate global growth in the next 20 years, as well as across higher-growth markets in North America.

Our economic future must be global – outside of Alberta. And we need to turn our attention to shaping our international competitiveness by educating our kids properly, building and maintaining economic infrastructure, investing in research and product development, pursuing international trade and investment relationships, and aligning multi-level government resources to connect our businesses to opportunities in international markets.

Japan had the plan, the commitment and the urgency.

We need to do the same.

Structure Follows Strategy

Posted on by
Reply

It has been a long time since Alberta had a Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, and it is long overdue. The announcement by Premier Notley last Thursday brought cheers from many across the province, as we can now establish focus and resources towards our most pressing economic issues:

  1. Building a culture of risk-taking and entrepreneurship in businesses big and small;
  2. Developing revenues, trade and investment from beyond our borders;
  3. Unlocking the value of our resource assets in mutually beneficial ways; and
  4. Leading an innovation system that is relevant and respected across Canada.

We have been talking about these four simple priorities for years as part of our provincial strategy; however, the ministerial structure never followed the strategy and past ministries lived through endless leadership changes and budget uncertainty.

This was a much needed change and, when led by a strong Minister, Deputy Minister and Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Economy, I believe we are now off to a great start.

The old models of economic development, diversification and innovation have not brought success or change, and I look forward to working with this new ministry to compete and win in today’s marketplace.

I am often hard on our government because I have high expectations. This is a timely and prudent move, and I compliment this kind of thoughtful stewardship.

I look forward to helping bring back our excellence.

Upgrading our Strategy

Posted on by
4

I used to struggle with the number of hours kids spend playing mindless video games. Minecraft, Farmville, Tropico, Settlers …. there seems to be an endless supply of, and demand for, non-violent nation-building games.

I used to think they were wasting their time. But I have come to develop great hope that they in fact are developing the skills to run our province with much greater foresight than previous generations.

Think about it. If you were given this wonderfully productive piece of land called Alberta, what would you do? What would you build? How would you create a society so productive and so prosperous that you would be the envy of the world?

Imagine digging a hole in the northeast part of the province and discovering what is now the Oil Sands – an endless supply of thick, dark, peanut butter like substance worth trillions of dollars. Would your first move be to build a railroad or pipeline and ship it out of here? Or would you build upgraders and refineries, petrochemical facilities and manufacturing factories that allowed you to control the market on everything from jet fuel to fertilizer to plastic toys?

Imagine planting a farm in southern Alberta and you were able to produce high quality Durham wheat. Would your first move be to harvest the crop and put it in rail cars to be shipped to a pasta plant in Italy? Or would you consider building your own pasta company, under a Canadian brand that exports and competes worldwide?

Imagine raising cattle on some of that land. Would your first move be to sell your young cattle to someone across the border who will beef them up before sending them to a slaughterhouse? Or would you consider building your own beef processing plant, a steak & hamburger restaurant chain or Alberta BBQ beef skewers which are exported to China.

Just daydreaming here … but you get the point.

Occasionally, opportunities present themselves to re-start the game, and to make better decisions. Over the past decade, building value-added upgraders and refineries didn’t make a lot of financial sense as margins were better from existing refineries south of the border. But now as labour becomes more available, input costs come down, the Canadian dollar falls, technologies are improved, risk of building upgraders/refineries have been mitigated, and neighboring provinces refuse unrefined products through pipelines, it’s time to think strategically and make some nation-building investments.

We can keep shipping stuff out of here and shipping out our wealth in the process. But these video-game-addicted kids are telling me that’s not the best way to win the game.