Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor Project & Why It Is Important to Its Community Members

In June of 2014, three Regional Economic Development Alliances (REDAs) came together to create the Eastern AlbertaTrade Corridor project (EATC).  This partnership had been on an informal, handshake basis for the past few years, but the time had come for a formal agreement.

The Executive of these three REDA partners - North EastAlberta Information HUB Ltd. (HUB), Battle River Alliance for EconomicDevelopment (BRAED), and Palliser Economic Partnership (PEP)) recognized the many advantages of 80+ municipal partners collaborating to promote eastern Alberta to national and international markets.

From the individual communities’ perspective, however, the benefits may not be as clear.

So why should your municipality be excited about EATC?  Consider the following - 

Today’s economy is global -
  • Never before in history has there been such global exchange of goods & services. 
  • The Government of Canada has actively negotiated free trade agreements in the past, and continues to look for further opportunity. 
  • Our relationship with the Ports to Plains Trade Corridor Alliance connects us with like-minded people in several US states and in Mexico.  Business in eastern Alberta has the opportunity to capitalize on this. 
  • Our vision is “The Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor is a Significant participant in the Global Economy”.

Our Core Strategies  –  Designed to benefit our membership -
  • Economic Development Advocate for Eastern Alberta – we are many voices that together can advocate for economic development issues in eastern Alberta that affect us all.  The Wild Horse Border Crossing is a perfect example.
  • Business & Investment Attraction – In concert with other levels of government and other stakeholders, we are willing to take the lead in Business Investment & Attraction.
  • Major Project Business Opportunities – There are almost $120 Billion in major projects announced or underway in Eastern Alberta, and we can help our business community take advantage of procurement opportunities related to these projects.  

  • The Province of Alberta became a member in 2009 and the three REDAs have been cultivating a good working relationship with PTP since that time.  EATC has, this spring, entered into a membership agreement with PTP that has two positive results –
    • EATC is a voting member of PTP; I was elected to the Board of Directors at their Annual Meeting in Del Rio, TX in October.
    • Each municipal member of the three REDAs is now automatically a member of PTP.

We have been noticed –
  • We have been formally recognized with two awards (Municipal Affairs Minister’s Award of Excellence for Partnerships, & Economic Developers of Alberta Marketing Award for large communities).
  • The EATC project has been mentioned several times by presenters to the Rural Economic Development Action Plan consultations. 
  • EATC Executive Director Elvira Smid has recently come to our organization on a secondment from Alberta Innovation & Advanced Education – this is a significant investment in the EATC project by the Government of Alberta.

 Our Marketing Strategy & Web Presence –
  • We are working on member-specific promotional pieces, plus developing an on-line investment readiness profile for each member community.  

On the financial side, each REDA's contribution of $20,000 allows us to leverage significant funds to create a total budget for 2014/15 of over $300,000.  Add to this the value of our secondment arrangement plus ongoing projects where funds are held separately, and you can see the benefit of working together on this.

To summarize, the Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor project has allowed us, collectively, to be part of the economic development conversation on the Provincial, National, and International stage. 
Eastern Alberta has a lot to offer in terms of services, land prices, great communities & quality of life.  The EATC project allows us to tell our story to a broad audience, and gives our members and their respective business communities additional tools to grow.

The Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor is set to play a major role in charting the course for a bright future in Eastern Alberta. 


Sincerely,

Bud James
Chair, EATC