NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
Medicine Hat city hall plans contribute about $30,000 per year to a regional economic development strategy that elected officials say will not duplicate work of other onging business development efforts.
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A new economic development plan among municipalities in Medicine Hat regions is meant to fill in gaps in other business efforts and draw dollars and jobs to the furthest corner of the southeast.
That could come at an added $30,000 per year cost to the city, but should augment, not duplicate other ongoing efforts, according council rep on other economic development groups.
This week, Medicine Hat city council, and other councils in the area, were presented recently with a report and potential work plan for the six near municipalities to align strategy, advocate for public infrastructure projects and promote the area to the private sector.
That work, by business consulting firm Deloitte, was covered mostly by a grant, and aims to target aerospace and agri-food manufacturing companies to the area as well as bolster tourism.
“I don’t believe that it will duplicate our efforts,” said Coun. Cassi Hider, who sits on the board of the Palliser Economic Partnership, which includes 17 municipalities in the wider region.
“Our team has worked closely with Deloitte. I know it’s been a long process, but there are positives to come out of it.”
She told the News that PEP membership puts Medicine Hat at the table in discussions with the province and provides access to trade delegations…
“It’s very beneficial for Alberta and western Canada as well, dealing with agriculture and some tech issues,” she said
“It gives Medicine Hat a greater voice with the province.”
One positive outlined by Deloitte officials and well received by local councillors is targetted attraction – often called for over the years to invigorate the economy.
“In aerospace, it seems to us that it’s one (area) that you really can influence changes by taking action,” said Deloitte’s Paul Blais while presenting the report.
“We were very concerned that if southeast Alberta region didn’t ‘t get it’s collective act together, you’d be left in the dust, because other regions are aggressively promoting themselves as a great location for investment.”
The Hat, Cypress County, Redcliff, Bow Island, the county of Forty Mile and Village of Foremost would share in the estimated $60,000 total annual cost of the five-year program. (A proposed funding model, based partly on population and partly of non-residential tax assessment share is still to be finalized.)
Deloitte officials state that matching those municipal funds against provincial and federal grants could result in a $900,000 effort by 2029 to have the area designated a protein supercluster toward agri-food investments, promote aerospace manufacturing, and advertise tourism in the region.
Work would be handled by existing staff and the Hat’s contribution would be paid out of existing budgets, Hat Economic Development director Selena McLean-Moore told council this week.
Last year, Medicine Hat added funding to re-staff positions at Medicine Hat Economic Development, which city hall has operated directly since Invest Medicine Hat was created as an alternative to the Ecomonic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta in 2015.
At that time, the EDA’s remaining rural partners formed Verge Economic Development which is still in operation.
The PEP footprint expands outward to include municipalities like Hanna, Oyen and Bassano, though Brooks has left and rejoined the effort over the years.
Brooks currently focuses its economic development program with the “Brooks Region” effort alongside PEP members the County of Newell and its villages.
