Tag Archives: Alberta

Our Fixed-Term Premier

Posted on by
2

I love urgency. I love the adrenaline of deadlines … of the need to move forward … of the necessity to make change. Maybe that’s why I have a propensity to take on risk and debt. I like a little debt … debt gets you out of bed in the morning … knowing at the end of the day you gotta deliver … or else there are consequences.

I fear complacency. I fear the thought of coming into the office every morning, sitting at my desk, reading the newspaper … growing old and fat in my chair. Maybe that’s why I have a stand-up desk? Maybe there is something inside of me that fears getting lazy and losing the sense of urgency.

That was, and still is, my biggest fear when I decided to step out of the private sector and into the public sector. Would I become a lazy bureaucrat? Would I simply manage the piles on my desk? Or would I keep the adrenaline and the urgency going that is all so important for moving our great city and province forward?

Seriously, that’s what I think about.

And do you know who inspires me today? Who I look upon with a sense of admiration? Premier Dave Hancock.

Why? Because the guy has a sense of urgency and purpose … and I’m lovin’ it.

The guy gets dropped into the role … doesn’t ask for it … just gets dropped into a really crappy situation. And Dave has a choice … he can sit there all comfortable in his big Premier’s chair and ride out his five months … ever to be forgotten. Or he can step in, pull up his socks like a knapsack over his shoulder, and set out to put his own dent in the universe. That that’s exactly what he’s doing … and I think we could all learn something about leadership from him right now.

Dave is genuinely inspired … hell, he’s king for five months … he’s gotta be inspired. And his positive energy is soooooo apparent, sooooo welcomed and sooooo infectious that it is actually moving the stalled ship forward. He’s set out to tackle those piles of negative energy that have been just sitting on the desks in the bureaucracy … stifled by a lack of leadership and urgency … files like the innovation system and access to capital … files that have bounced through a desert of ineptitude at the very time when Alberta should be seizing the opportunities in front of us.

But there was no urgency. And now there is.

Why? Because Premier Dave Hancock will no longer be Premier in September and he wants to get things done WITH URGENCY before he’s booted out. And for that I compliment him sincerely.

His selfless but missionary style of leadership in a time of rudderless drift has accomplished more than what anyone could have imagined. He has shown the importance of energy, accessibility, humility and humanity to the leadership role. He has restored the confidence of many incredulous Albertans. And he has done it with grace.

And for that, I thank him.

We have a Labour Shortage Problem, Not a TFW Problem

Posted on by
9

Twice a week, I used to drive Highway #2 back and forth to Calgary, making my usual stops for McDonald’s coffee on the way down in the morning and Booster Juice on the way back. It was 2007, the economy was booming and we were at full employment. And then one day my trip home was interrupted by the following sign in a very familiar window:

“We’re sorry, but due to a lack of available staff this Booster Juice store will be closing at 3pm.”

Welcome to Alberta, circa 2007.

Fast-forward to 2014 where, having weathered the global financial storm, Alberta is back in the saddle. Full employment, rapid growth, and the same labour shortage problem that has defined the 21st century for our province, and for the Edmonton Region. Except this time around, employers in the food service industry have learned how to access the Federal Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, in order to get the labour supply they so desperately need.

Looking around today, these business leaders are clearly managing economic growth with much more grace and professionalism than they did seven years ago. That is, until last week when Federal Employment Minister Jason Kenny unexpectedly put a freeze on all new and pending TFW applications in the food service sector.

I fully understand Minister Kenny’s frustration with the arrogance and hypocrisy shown by the Canadian CEO of McDonald’s and I support the need to penalize the handful of companies that are abusers of the program. However, an industry-wide freeze has put the growth of countless small and medium-sized businesses in Edmonton at risk. These are the entrepreneurs, job creators and taxpayers of our city and country. We need Minister Kenny to help reduce this risk, and seize the unique opportunity before him.

Based on the feedback we received from restaurant, hospitality and entertainment leaders over the past three days, the political and economic conditions are primed for Minister Kenny to demonstrate the strong leadership that this issue requires. This can be done through the following approach:

• Ensure the freeze accelerates the review of the TFW program . Don’t allow naysayers to slow down the review. Where there are problems, let us fix them quickly, together, and get things back on the rails. Set a public commitment to have the review completed by a specific date, where the results will be made public and changes communicated;

• Reinforce that abusers of the TFW program will be investigated, audited and, if found guilty, harshly punished. Employers who mistreat their employees should never been given the opportunity to do so again;

• Acknowledge that unemployment is not equally distributed across the country and that the TFWs fill an important labour shortage problem in the Alberta economy which drives economic growth and prosperity for the nation;

• Leverage the discussion on the TFW program as a platform to activate underemployed areas of our country. Let’s address the critical reforms needed to programs such as Employment Insurance – reforms that will enable more inter-provincial migration and the employment of Canadians from across the country; and

• Commit to maintaining a stable policy environment in order to allow our entrepreneurs, business owners and municipal leaders to properly plan and make investments, without the ever-present risk of changing rules and regulations.

I could have spent this blog discrediting the C.D. Howe Institute’s commentary that unfairly attributes increases in unemployment with the TFW program. I could have spent this blog discrediting the Alberta Federation of Labour’s stance that our economy can prevail without an external labour supply. I could have spent this blog talking about the poor timing of this announcement in advance of the summer tourism season where temporary workers are needed most and when TFW families come to visit. And I could have spent this blog talking about our demographics and our inability to repopulate this country without programs that stimulate immigration of new taxpaying Canadians.

But I think what is more important is that Minister Kenny address the significant barriers to inter-provincial migration which get Canadians working, the realities associated with the booming Alberta economy and the challenges to Alberta’s sustainable contribution to the federal system if it does not have access to a global labour marketplace.

It is time to start unifying our nation around economic imperatives.

Minister Kenny’s leadership is needed now.

Abundance vs. Necessity

Posted on by
2

Enroute back from Iceland, somewhere over the Atlantic. It’s a beautiful sight, the vastness of our Canadian Arctic, true north strong and free, when compared to a small, isolated island state like Iceland. The contrasts were noticeably obvious, but the unexpected insights were like gifts which I will freely share.

I come back a little embarrassed about our abundance. We are blessed with resources that are the envy of the world – oil, gas, fresh water, rich soil, rivers, streams, lakes, sun, wind, trees, animals, crops, mountains, medicine, education, democracy, rule of law, and stable government – the things of which most only dream.

Visiting the harbour town of Grindavik, we witnessed innovation at its finest. Blessed only with resources of the sea, an abundance of cod and shifting tectonic plates, we were treated to a proud culture of ingenuity and innovation out of necessity. This small town of 2,800 people shared an economic vision based on five areas of excellence:

1. Innovation in Cod Fishing: Higher quality fish through historical salting techniques; excellence in packaging and logistics such that fish can be on a plate in Edmonton within 36 hours of being caught; and a pursuit of innovation by developing 25 uses for cod sub products – from collagen to protein supplements – such that every part of the fish is developed to its highest value before it is exported.

2. Clean Energy Production: Harnessing the power of the volcanoes, earthquakes and shifting tectonic plates, geothermal production has risen to be the dominant source of energy production in the country, and is soon positioned to be sold in export markets. Clean electricity drive energy intensive industries like aluminum shelters, data centres, food processing and industrial greenhouses.

3. Greenhouse Food Production: Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from clean energy production and using it as an input into industrial greenhouse food production has expanded the available production of food in what is otherwise a challenging landmass.

4. Barley Biotechnology: Understanding that barley represents one of the most biotech-friendly crops for genetic modification, medicinal experimentation and cosmetic engineering, industrial greenhouse operations, using CO2 and clean energy inputs, is expanding to diversify a product-based export economy.

5. Rejuvenation Ponds vs Tailings Ponds: Silica and clay based water runoff from the geothermal plants has created a series of rejuvenation ponds that are beautifully marketed as healing lagoons for those challenged with ailments and a quest for youth.

This level of closed-loop local innovation with limited resources has enriched the brand of Iceland to be associated with words like clean, beauty, nature, healthy, young, and sustainable. Absolutely Brilliant.

I ask you to take a minute and contemplate the depth of innovation and thoughtfulness we apply in an economy of abundance. And I challenge you to ask whether we are thinking hard enough? We complain that we need more labour and more labour in order to ship more raw commodities – oil, animals, lumber, barley, etc. – for others to process, refine, productize and realize significantly more value. We have much to learn … and so much more value to capture … if we get serious about rewarding innovation and eliminating the very policies and incentives that produce a Banana Republic mentality and the absolute wrong outcomes.

As the Minister of Industry & Innovation outlined the Icelandic economic vision, a gift to us, I can only offer the following wish in return: That as your offshore oil and gas production continues to develop and produces riches yet unknown, I wish that your country never gets complacent through abundance (fat, dumb and lazy) and always maintains your wonderful culture of innovation that has come through necessity.