Local business hopes diversity gets incentives

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 19, 2020.

Workers guide a 22,000-kilogram storage vessel into place at the Cancarb refinery in Medicine Hat as part of this summer's 20 per cent capacity expansion. While the province is unveiling a new economic diversification strategy, local economic observers are calling for new incentives to attract more large-scale investments to the region and province.--NEWS FILE PHOTO

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Local business leaders are calling for substantial new tax incentive programs to lure major projects to the region and Alberta just as the provincial government is unveiling tenets of a reworked diversification strategy.

At the same time, municipal economic developers say they are “keen” to see portions of the plan being rolled out by newly appointed Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer.

He made two announcements this week outlining new strategies to engage technology developers and investors by highlighting the advantages of operating in Alberta.

The three-year, $75-million effort, first outlined in the spring, also keys on agriculture, energy, aviation, tourism and financial services. Sector-by-sector strategies in the Alberta Investment and Growth Strategy will be rolled out this fall, said Schweitzer.

“We’re putting the rest of Canada on notice that we are going to beat provinces like Ontario and B.C. to the punch by moving policy at the speed of business,” Schweitzer said Thursday, while promising to review intellectual property rules and better engage the tech sector.

Local Chamber officials told the News that they support government creating the environment for businesses to thrive, but added that in terms of major investments, the province should compete with places like Texas and Louisiana to lure new plant projects.

“Economic diversification has been a chamber priority since 2014,” said Sarah MacKenzie, past president of the Medicine Hat chapter. “Its goal is to create a more resilient economy, and we’ve promoted that environment … and it’s important to incentivize projects that will bring investment and companies into our region.”

At the Alberta Chamber of Commerce policy sessions this week, Medicine Hat Chamber proposed specific supports be developed by the province for petrochemical projects.

The Sherwood Park Chamber proposed the idea of creating “Special Economic Zones” in which local tax abatement agreements and specific fast-track regulatory procedures could draw new industry.

Both come several years after a provincial report on diversification noted that Medicine Hat, like the Industrial Heartland near Sherwood Park, could become petrochemical hubs while adding value to oil and natural gas.

More recently Associate Minister of Natural Gas Dale Nally reiterated his office supports major portions of the previous government’s Petrochemical Diversification Program.

That covers portions of new capital spending with a royalty credit swap program on approved projects of chemical companies.

The new program leans heavily on promoting the province’s recent move to lower corporate income tax and reduce regulations through a promised one-third reduction in “red tape.”

Municipal economic development office, Invest Medicine Hat, is most interested in measures from Schweitzer’s office to hear about planks related to agriculture and energy production.

Jon Sookocheff, an economic recovery officer with the city, said Medicine Hat has strengths that could benefit in the new diversification strategy.

“In value-added agriculture we’re aligned with the work done with the (federal) protein-supercluster work,” he said. “That’s peas and lentils, and at the end of the day we’re still a major beef producing part of the world, so there’s a lot that can be developed.

“We’re doing what we can to sell Medicine Hat to the entire energy industry, both oil and gas and renewables.”

Sookocheff also outlined that tourism organizations and working groups in the region have been active, and could see items in the new economic attraction plan.

When announced last spring, materials also included specific mention of the Foremost unmanned vehicle testing range.