MLA Report: Continued confidence in local economy
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 23, 2018.
The Medicine Hat job numbers continue to see a drop in the unemployment rate, according to Statistics Canada, reflecting a continued confidence in the local economy. A drop of nearly a percentage point combined with 400 fewer unemployed in our city year over year should be seen as a positive development as Medicine Hat continues to recover — slowly but surely — from the precipitous drop in oil and gas prices over the past few years. To be clear, this city and this province are far from out of the woods. There continues to be challenges in getting the province’s most valuable commodity to market, causing a steep drop in the differential prices between the heavy crude extracted from the oilsands and the industry standard West Texas Intermediate. Medicine Hat, the Gas City, has the benefit of its economy not being directly tied to oil production and the municipality owns its utilities. The province has provided tens of millions of dollars to fund numerous municipal infrastructure projects over the past three years to help our city get through the rough patch while investing in our future. I’m thankful for that investment and fully support the building of new schools, roads, sewers and facilities to improve response times for first responders. This investment in our city helped sow the seeds of our current recovery and has allowed Medicine Hat to continue to be a city of industry. In our past we produced linseed oil, bricks and milled grain. Moving into the 21st century, we now develop and manufacture unmanned vehicles, engage in bitcoin mining and produce high quality carbon black at the innovative CanCarb plant. Our heritage industries such as ranching and energy production continue to be supported by the provincial government. The future of energy production, in particular, holds a huge potential for our city’s continued economic growth. Under this government, the solar industry has grown by well over 400 per cent, solar capacity in the province has grown 600 per cent and hundreds of new companies have formed to meet demand. For Canada’s sunniest city, that is growth in an industry that should not go unnoticed. Wind energy also continues to be developed in our region with the Whitla and Oyen area projects moving ahead and with dozens more renewable energy projects around Medicine Hat nearing start-up. Combined with this region’s natural gas resources, our city can be Energy Central, powering industries with the cleanest hydro-carbon alongside green energy. This combination of clean energy production, modern infrastructure and schools along with a safe and affordable community is becoming more attractive to not just industry but families. I see a bright future for Medicine Hat. I challenge those who would say otherwise to state their case of doom and gloom in the coming years for our community. I would also suggest such individuals need to come out of the darkness and see the light. Bob Wanner is MLA (NDP) for Medicine Hat constituency. 18-17
