Chamber lunch with community leaders

Times Reporter 

 

The Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce held a luncheon on March 28 which had guest speakers Jason Hale, Glenn Koester and Michael Ell provide a bit of a year in review. 

Strathmore-Brooks MLA Jason Hale was the first to speak, talking about economic development, Alberta oil and the Wildrose 10-year debt free capital plan. 

“From the provincial perspective these are good times. The economy continues to grow steadily, mainly in the oil sands sector, but other sectors like forestry and agriculture are also performing well,” said Hale. 

He stated that Alberta’s assets include approximately 170 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, around 13 per cent of the total global oil reserves, and about 98 per cent of Canada’s oil reserves. 

Another competitive advantage that Alberta has is no provincial sales tax, which means Albertans aren’t gouged an additional seven or eight per cent at the till. It also means more money going into small business, which keeps the economic wheels turning.

Hale spoke on the positive work being done in recent years with the organization of ethical oil, to work done by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. 

“Part of the challenge in getting our product to market is projecting the positive image of the industry and defending our record,” said Hale. 

“Alberta is fast becoming a hub for research and technology development. We are the most technologically advanced jurisdiction for the oil industry. Technology has also allowed operators to reuse water and reduce the impact of development. One of the great things about the energy industry in Alberta is seeing it always working to improve its environmental performance, and this will be important to maintaining a healthy economy.”

Hale wrapped up his speech by stating that he is looking forward to going into the spring session and continuing to represent the constituency in the legislature, standing up for our citizens, holding the government accountable for tax dollars and decisions made and ensuring they are in the best interest of all Albertans. 

Strathmore Mayor Michael Ell spoke next, stating that there has been a lot that has happened over the past year. 

He mentioned the cost from the Thomas Drive improvements was $3 million, the Wildflower reservoir was $7.7 million, there is $600,000 slated for the Brentwood Reservoir, and to redo the water and sewer lines and resurface on Lakeside Blvd in 2014 is $1.6 million. 

“Running a town is costly,” said Ell.

He spoke about the downtown overlay bylaw, which was approved recently. 

“There are several reasons for this overlay. We want to encourage property owners and businesses to improve their stores and to make them more appealing. More attractive stores will encourage more people to come downtown and will bring the shoppers … to your stores,” said Ell. 

Bringing the arts community downtown will encourage vibrancy and will again be able to get more people downtown. Ell said the town administration and council want to increase the population downtown; more residents downtown will encourage more businesses to want to open downtown too.  

“The town is (posed) for a building boom. Some development has started, such as the Co-op Centre on the north side of the #1 Highway. Once all of the five Area Structure Plans are in place and they have been approved, these ASPs are going into the next stage and then construction will start,” said Ell. 

“We have been working with Olds College and we have been trying to encourage them to locate a campus here. Bow Valley College already offers some programs and we’re looking at ways to assist them to expand their programs. We want all of these things for Strathmore and more.”

Ell also spoke of different events coming to town that will attract tourists, and will present opportunities for businesses to grab some of that money coming into town. 

Wheatland County Reeve Glenn Koester said he had a story of something the county and outlying communities have been working on for some time, the Wheatland Regional Partnership (WRP). Koester said it has always been there in the background, but recently it has begun moving forward. 

It was used to benefit a community, Rockyford, with a paved road, which was also a benefit to the county because it continued the paving on a road they had started to pave previously. 

“The most recent part in this story that is unfolding before us is we have all agreed to sit down … and everybody, all the councillors in the area will be able to say what is important to them, what they want to see out of this partnership, what they want it to grow,” said Koester.

He said there is a plan to set up a meeting with a mediator and come up with a set of protocols. It is something that can be reviewed, added on and grown upon. The WRP is something Koester said he believes is the future to the region and now is the time to really get it going. He suggests speaking to your local councillors and telling them what you would like to see happen in your area.

The meeting wrapped up with a few questions to each of the guest speakers.