Chamber of commerce: Q + A
#1 Labour Attraction and Retention
“Developing, attracting, and retaining skills to support business growth in our community is an important priority for chamber members – how would you work with the business community to attract and retain talent in our community?”
Developing, attracting, and retaining skilled workers is essential, considering that we are facing and will continue to see labour shortages in GP. I have spoken to a number of businesspeople in our community who are literally losing sleep over this. Working in conjunction with the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce there are ways to mitigate this concerning issue.
Retention of skilled labour is the easiest solution. Working with GPRC to build new polytechnic programs which would provide our city with access to locally sourced and trained skilled labour is primary.
Recruitment of workers requires an even broader focus. Working closely with the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce and Alberta Labour and Immigration, among other organizations will support in achieving results. These programs include the Canada- Alberta Job Grant Program and the Alberta Job Now Program: these programs could be used to recruit truck drivers and environmental professionals for example.
Offering employees opportunities to grow professionally is another way to retain and recruit. There is funding available to support workers in their professional development. For example employers can access funding to hire new employees and provide professional development opportunities
I would also like to focus on Economic Development bringing in more industry, commercial business, and residential opportunities to our city.
#4 Affordable Housing
“Access to affordable housing is a major barrier to providing livable communities and attracting and retaining skills that can support business growth – what are your views on ensuring affordable housing is available in our community?”
Affordable housing is a problem in most communities across Canada. We need to advocate, assist development projects and collaborate with partners to end visible and invisible poverty to increase the quality of life for all citizens. However, given our geographic location, a person buying a home in Grande Prairie may feel particularly vulnerable to investing in high-priced homes. This of course affects the retention and recruitment of workers we need here. Addressing this problem should include the utilization of CMHC reduced interest rates programs, so developers will be incentivized to invest in P3 projects. (Private, Public partnerships) For example, this type of project can include housing units for both regular and affordable housing options within a single development.
Addressing affordable housing needs will require we look outside our city to find success stories like small modular builds, similar to what Vancouver has done, or even cooperative housing developments similar to what Jasper has done. This may require investment from multiple partners, including community partners, provincial partners, and small businesses who will want to invest.
#7 Public-Private Partnerships
“Public-Private Partnerships provide an opportunity to build the infrastructure we need while allowing the private sector to help us get the best deal possible. If elected, how will you work with elected colleagues to engage the private sector to participate in building major infrastructure in our community and region?”
I believe the incentive for attracting investment in public-private partnerships is to make the investment decisions attractive to the private business sector. In 2020, the Alberta government passed the Alberta Investment Attraction Act. Bill 33 is designed to attract high impact investment which would create long lasting jobs and contribute to long term economic prosperity. Working with elected colleagues, I would look to expand the investment in what we have already in Grande Prairie. This may include incentives for private partners to help address affordable housing issues, opportunities to expand our public facilities, including; mental health, health care and education facilities. These are primary needs in our community. Given the expense of these projects, there should be room for public private partnerships that also reach out to partnering with municipalities. We have seen the success of these partnerships with the Hwy 40 twinning project where municipalities partnered with the province to develop 21km of highway and bridgework, as well as successful healthcare ventures with facilities in Valleyview and Beaverlodge.
#10 Crime, Enforcement and Emergency Services
“What are your priorities when it comes to crime and law enforcement in the city?
What changes if any would you like to see as far as emergency services are concerned?
What suggestions do you have to help deal with issues such as drug and alcohol dependency and homelessness in our community?”
While policing and emergency services are an essential in our community, it comes at a very high cost to taxpayers. Policing alone is 54% of the city’s budget, while fire services is about 35%.
I am a strong advocate of the RCMP and Enforcement Services. They do an excellent job serving our community. I would like to assist our crime and prevention partners by having our city council concentrate on strengthening our neighbourhood associations to become more proactive instead of reactive to crime.
I have always advocated how best to utilize these services and reduce crime in our city. More programs are needed to mitigate root causes of crime such as the drug treatment court instead of jails.
I have been, and I am currently, involved in a number of initiatives to deal with social issues in our city. This includes sourcing the funding for the daytime shelter, working with the city with the Mobile Outreach Program, the Crime Mitigation Grant and the RCMP Community Engagement Program.
#2 Hospital Staffing
“With the new hospital opening later this year, how would you help health officials recruit and retain professionals to our region?”
I would support recruitment efforts and retain health care professionals in our region. Promoting Grande Prairie is critical and we can all help. Our community can partner by inviting local professional partners like Grande Prairie Regional Tourism and community groups to showcase our city through activities we can all get involved in; these include community welcoming events; BBQs, meet and greets, local tours, community festivals, and fundraising events and even adventure opportunities like hiking, fishing, skiing, and hunting. Partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, AHS recruiting department, and the City, utilizing their new Health Sector Development Strategy, would best work to address potential recruitment and retention issues for medical professionals in Grande Prairie.
There are lots of reasons to move to GP, we have a vibrant arts community that is recognized as a cultural hub in the Northwest region of the province. We are revitalizing the City Centre to be a strong and thriving urban core. We have community organizations that assist and promote diversity and inclusion and great sports programs that are building a strong sports tourism sector.
#5 Real Estate Development
“How would you support the real estate community deal with a growing number of vacant buildings and lots partly due to fallout from the pandemic?
How would you characterize the amount of green space in the city and its importance in any new development?”
I do agree that over the past couple of years with the ongoing pandemic and the collapse of the oil and gas sector, our business real estate community has been hit hard.
But in saying this, I have spoken to several real estate professionals and businesses in the area of leasing who indicate that things are turning around. In the past 4-5 months the substantially hard-hit office spaces are once again moving in a positive direction as people are coming back to the office. The industrial and commercial spaces are starting to come around as well and the residential pace is still positive.
There are still vacancies but with Grande Prairie being the economic driver in this region, business is resilient. For example, we will benefit from the potential growth of the Montney Basin and the Hughes Lake development, thereby providing huge opportunities in all areas of real estate for many sectors.
#8 Infrastructure
“The balance between the need for new infrastructure and the maintenance of current roads, sidewalks, curbs, and paths is an ongoing challenge for communities everywhere. What would your priorities be when it comes to infrastructure in the city?”
The city has an infrastructure plan which includes an annual requirement of improved sidewalks, streets and development areas.
Opportunities, such as of late, for infrastructure maintenance and development are dependent on Provincial and Federal grants along with a low interest rate borrowing. For example: The new Smith subdivision recreation center funding came from the Covid 19 Canada Infrastructure Program. Additionally, projects such as the Hughes Lake industrial development and the downtown revitalization project using low financing rates and grants.
These are great opportunities for our city to create employment and build and revitalize our city. We need to find more opportunities like these.
#11 Grande Prairie Regional College
“How would you characterize the importance of Grande Prairie Regional College programs and how do you think they could best be supported?”
With the exciting announcement of the Grande Prairie Regional College moving to polytechnical status, the city can support the college in identifying programming needs related to the current labour shortage while proactively partnering in new opportunities identified in our economic development and diversification strategies. For example, with our new state of the art regional hospital this can include additional programming for health and wellness jobs for this facility but can also provide educational opportunities for those workers supporting the healthcare industry. We can develop more trades related to oil and gas and provide additional opportunities for the environmental trades that will be coming to this region.
#3 Recreation, Arts and Culture
“What options would you like council to consider when it comes to recreation, arts and culture to help attract more professionals and families to the region?”
Grande Prairie is deemed a young demographic in our province but we also have a strong and vibrant adult and seniors community. Recreation, arts and culture touches each of our citizens in one capacity or another.
There is much need to keep our kids in activities to promote healthy living and positive opportunities for sport engagement. The city needs to provide more indoor and outdoor spaces to meet these needs. Communities with a strong recreational focus provide an attractive environment for families who will want to move here and will want to stay in our city. Creating healthy lifestyles helps to create a healthy city.
Arts and Culture is much the same. A vibrant city needs to include entertainment, the arts, festivals, parks, environmental living and social engagement opportunities to support and balance the hard-working culture we have. Keeping a focus in this segment will also help to attract new people to our region and is a key part of any economic development planning strategy. As a municipality, I believe we need to continue to support these economic drivers while providing a vibrant city for our families to want to live in.
#6 Regional Project Planning
“Regional planning brings together multiple communities and areas to find projects that improve our ability to move people and goods around the region and province. How would you propose to work with other municipalities to prioritize and pursue infrastructure projects that are focused on improving economic outcomes for our region?”
No community is an island when it comes to economic development. We must focus collectively on regional economic partnerships. To increase this regional economic hub, we need strong partnerships with local municipalities. We also have opportunities to work with organizations like PREDA (Peace Region Economic Development Alliance). Other partners include Alberta Economic Development, Regional Tourism, the Chamber of Commerce and Community Futures. Working together with these partners is essential in pursuing economic infrastructure projects like Nautical for example.
#9 Taxation
“What possible ideas would you suggest to balance spending on necessary services for residents while keeping taxes from increasing exponentially?”
Given the past 18 months, living the realities of a pandemic, the oil and gas sector downfall and construction, now is not the time for tax increases.
To rebuild we need to focus on Economic Development to increase industry, commercial and residential investment.
We need to be competitive and resourceful in attracting new business. With increased industry and commercial business, this will alleviate the tax burden on the residential properties. We need to attract local, regional and international business. Bring in investment that is new to our community such as new technology-based industry, medical technologies and business in the historic sectors.
City facilities have had decreased operation expenditures due to shut downs and restrictions this past 18 months. Therefore, the city is looking at a surplus which could be used to keep taxes at a zero increase. Recent surplus funds would be better used to take the burden off of our citizens. I believe the surplus should be used to reduce taxes for homeowners and businesses. It is time to rebuild not tax more.