Among the diverse pool of business in the southeast region is the growing drone industry, and no city in the country has built more drones than Medicine Hat.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Business leaders and consumers both hunkered down in 2024 to weather the gridlock of high prices and the high interest rates used to combat them.
Both inflation and borrowing costs now appear to be easing, but the map ahead is still murky due to the potential seismic shifts in the North American political and business environment, say local business leaders who nonetheless expect a more positive 2025.
“There are certainly similar challenges,” said Lisa Dressler, executive director of the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce. “With the transition due to the U.S. election, everyone is holding their breath about what effect tariffs may have on our economy.
“There’s still concern … but certainly business confidence is improving.”
There are falling interest rates, some easing in the final version of Canada’s clean electricity rules, a generally stronger provincial economy and an expected regional economic development strategy.
“We’ve long- known that with the boom-bust economy, we’re usually on the tail of that. We see positive winds, and the anticipation is that will help the region,” said Dressler.
That strategy is on the city council agenda for early January – proposed regional partners include the Hat, Redcliff, Cypress County, the County of Forty Mile, Foremost and Bow Island – and comes after a reset in the city division started last year.
“The last year has been about setting the stage and the next year will be about execution,” said city economic development director Selena McLean-Moore.
Its three pillars are defence and aerospace, value added agriculture and tourism, and some related work began in the 2023 with an immigration strategy and initial work on housing investment attraction.
Two round tables with private sector actors in defence and manufacturing sectors will be held this winter after early discussions this fall.
“Drone City”
The billboard above Landing Zones Canada advertises CEO Spencer Fraser’s claim that more drones have been built in the Hat than any other Canadian city.
His aerospace firm was one of several in the area that made news in 2024, specifically for a new returnable aircraft that could replace single-use weather balloons. About 20,000 such balloons are launched annually in Canada, and 600,000 worldwide.
Tracy Stroud, regional innovation manager with Community Futures Entre Corp., told the News this year has seen building momentum. Another long-established defence firm, Qinetiq, was nominated for a provincial tech award, while Atlantis Research Labs commenced high altitude rocket testing at CFB Suffield in conjunction with the University of Calgary.
Redcliff-based UVAD also announced contracts with large defence contractors in 2024.
This past summer, the Department of Defence staged a “sandbox competition” at CFB Suffield for drone developers, and will likely again in 2026.
Next year, Medicine Hat will host 100 participants from university-level engineering programs in the national student competition of the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada in March.
Construction sector shifts
Housing and affordability concerns topped headlines in 2024 while activity in the construction sector shifted from single-family homes toward multi-unit projects. Nearly 100 new units were permitted in the last 11 months, up from eight in 2023, and a flurry of applications to upsize zoning were received by the city.
New apartment spending topped $15 million, and the number of duplex permits processed was 18, triple the previous year’s total.
In the resale market, prices continued to rise in a tighter market hampered by supply availability and high interest rates. Lending rates began falling in the summer, but new home construction remained even, year over year.
At Nov. 30, the average detached homes sold for $346,000, up 8 per cent, while total sales fell 3 per cent.
Bio-diesel
A longstanding plan to build a bio-diesel refinery near Dunmore fell through in June when Cielo announced it would focus efforts on buying a facility in Carseland, Alta.. The plant, which would have processed railway ties, was first discussed in late 2018 as a flagship in a chain of similar refineries to process ag byproduct material and municipal waste.
A local investors group was offered a $2-million payout as settlement.
Coming up
The Chamber of Commerce of Southeast Alberta will host the provincial policy conference at the end of May. About 150 business leaders in the province are expected to attend.
Ag pricing
Crop and cattle prices went in different directions in 2024, with lower grain prices dragging down provincial and national farm receipts by 2 to 3 per cent.
Expected drought in the prairies didn’t materialize, while livestock income rose 11 per cent year-to-date to September, driven partly by smaller herd size.
Non-durum wheat, canola and barley prices however, fell between 21 and 29 per cent compared to late 2023.
So, helium, eh?
It’s not a gusher, so to speak, but the News broke some interesting news that the Weil Group is now producing helium from a well near Dunmore, about eight years after the sector’s headline debut in the region.
Recent investment has also moved forward in Steveville (north of Brooks), and Mankato, Battle Creek, and Gull Lake, in Saskatchewan.
