Associate Minister begins virtual tour of rural Alberta

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Associate Minister of Rural and Economic Development is beginning a virtual tour across Alberta to meet with business and community leaders.

The purpose of the tour is to listen and understand what rural leaders need to promote economic development and prosperity within their communities. 

Associate Minister Nate Horner said the tour has been a long time coming, though the intention originally was to tour in person.

“I’ve been working on this … since I was sworn in. We’ve had to move into a virtual format and we’ve been trying to set that up,” said Horner.

“It was always our intention to have a rural tour and this is the best way we can do it right now. With the COVID-19 response to travel, coupled with (the fact that) we’re going into fall session, we’re going to be running this concurrently while we’re in session.”

The virtual meetings will be held with rural businesses across multiple sectors including business associations, chambers of commerce, Indigenous and Metis-owned businesses and industry and community leaders.

Local leaders will be given an opportunity to make their voices and needs heard, as well as to present their ideas to ensure that Albertans from every corner of the province will benefit from the Alberta Recovery Plan.

“I think it’s going to probably have the most equity for rural Alberta, we’re going to be having 20-plus sessions, inviting over 900 stakeholders and really breaking it down region by region,” said Horner.

“I don’t want to suppose what we’re going to learn from this tour, but as a new minister of rural Albertans, I want to make sure we totally understand the landscape — what’s working and what isn’t.”

Horner added that he wants to ensure the government is not doubling down on programming that may be redundant or is not supporting Albertans as intended. 

As of the time of publication, the tour will have started, though an exact date or region was not given.  The intention is to conclude the tour during the first week of December.

The Strathmore region is currently slated to be visited by the tour sometime during the week of Nov. 29.

“I want to make sure that we understand where the opportunities are, where the weaknesses are and if programs are failing rural Albertans, I want to have a better understanding of that with this department,” explained Horner.

“I’m trying not to limit the possibilities. I think supports can be changed, the way we seek investments in the province … I think it could be pretty broad, but we’ll have to see where it takes us.”

He added he intends to follow up with media organizations post tour to debrief what the associate ministry has learned and how they intend to utilize the information gained from the tour. 

An online survey will be running concurrently with the virtual tour while it is operating and is available through the Government of Alberta website.