November 13, 2018 - Edmonton, Alberta

Date: November 13, 2018
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Q1) What does a stronger western Canadian economy look like 10 years from now?

Economic strategy and integration:

• It will be less about sectors and more about small businesses and the development of hubs.
• We will be thoughtful in who we attract in terms of global investors. We will also be interconnected and not live in provincial boundaries.
• We will have a sense of urgency, which we do not necessarily have right now.
• It is time for bold moves. We have been content with incremental change. If we do not take bold actions, we will be having the same discussion in 10 years. The Supercluster initiative is a good example of bold action – but more needs to be done. Canada has never said we are going to do this and be the best at this.
• Many Alberta businesses only work with other local businesses. If we improve the reach of Alberta businesses, we will go very far.
• We will have a good knowledge base of what co-operatives can do in this country, especially in rural settings. For-profit and non-profit co-operatives are very successful models. Co-operatives help to build our economy, and we need to build understanding in what they do.
• Major structural sectors will still be drivers, but how they drive will be different.

Entrepreneurship:

• We need to keep what entrepreneurs do here. When the business grows, it is sold to an equity group and moves elsewhere. All of the value dissipates into international markets.
• The idea of being a serial entrepreneur is not necessarily bad. If you sell to someone who has access to customers internationally, that firm can grow. Canadian firms may not grow as quickly if they stay at home – how can we attach to global supply chains?
• There can be gendered responses to women entrepreneurs. If diversity is the goal, we need to look at how women and Indigenous peoples approach entrepreneurship. It is one-sided to approach it only from the economic growth side of things.
• The greatest challenges for small businesses are cash flow and access to capital.
• Access to capital for underrepresented groups is important.

Technology and innovation:

• We have an opportunity with Artificial Intelligence (AI), including advanced machine learning and robotics, to become a manufacturing centre.
• There are roadblocks to scaling up. Working together with other provinces, we can pool and save on research and development, and have bigger deal flows.
• We can have models around co-creation. For example, international companies and Health City, they can co-create with our SMEs and let them have access to global networks. This creates a model and platform that supports our ability to scale-up.
• There are no alternative routes when the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and others say no. We can go to the United States government and interact, but we get nothing here at home.

People, workforce, and inclusion:

• We have to view ourselves in a way that allows us the capacity to sell ourselves as a brand. We must change our narrative, including in how we approach Ottawa.
• Alberta will be diverse not just in industries, but in terms of those leading them.
• In ten years, we are a talent magnet – people want to be here. We have a talent and investment perspective.
• Newcomers will be welcomed and integrated into the economy.
• The proportion of business owners would match the broader population demographics for Indigenous people, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, and other groups.  For example, four per cent of all Alberta businesses would be Indigenous-owned.
• We need to be able to attract bilingual people and workers, especially to rural areas. A strong economy is bilingual.
• Even as a successful business, there are still challenges and discrimination. This includes bias and discrimination when working with representatives in government programs.

Government:

• We need to look at the regulatory environment and how different governments work together to support a sustainable environment for businesses across the provinces and municipalities.
• Government tax incentives will support productivity.
• We need to train government representatives on how to work with diverse groups.

Q2) What are the best ways to spur new growth in western Canada

Economic strategy:

• We need to build relationships. Some of the basic tools used to build relationships, like conferences and receptions, help us build the network.
• Co-operatives offer economic growth and stability in the community, along with supporting areas such as innovation and green energy. Co-ops are a job creator that people are comfortable with.
• Anchor firms help us connect to the global supply chain. The co-op sector needs more federal support.

Access to capital:

• We need to solve our access to capital problem. In Silicon Valley, they have choices. If one turns you down, you go to another. Here, if IRAP, Alberta Innovates, and others turn you down, there is nowhere to go. Others will not give to you if someone else turned you down. We cannot solve it 100 per cent, but we should make it better.
• We need to consider how multinationals can help Canadian businesses grow. The petrochemical industry comes to the table to make deals. Other sectors need to do this. When we leverage multinationals, it gets us access to capital and talent. We do not have to be reliant, but we can learn a lot and do not have to do it all on our own.
• You can only access money if you do not need it.

Connectivity:

• We need better internet connectivity. People living outside of major city centres have to resort to batch downloading when they come to the large cities.
• The internet should be a public good, and it should not take ten years. Why can’t we speed this up?
• If we bought a pipeline, we should be able to provide internet to everyone.

Artificial intelligence (AI):

• We have so much potential in AI, but we are losing our AI ranking, despite being natural leaders in this area. How can we attract capital and investment? The University of Alberta cannot just do it on their own. We need to assist. What are we doing for them?

Government:

• If Ottawa is offering matching funding, some provinces double-down. We need to advise whoever is Premier to take advantage of these opportunities and to not leave money on the table.
• The United States Department of Defense has a new Ideas program that is agile and brilliant. We need programs that move quickly, in weeks, not months. If you want innovation, we need a sense of urgency.
• There was an Emissions Reduction Alberta grand challenge. Most winners were not from Alberta. They make safe, but not innovative choices. Some innovators do not fit into neat program boxes. Large companies do not need carbon tax money.

Workplace:

• The workforce should be representative of the population, and so should the management make-up as well.

Education:

• Some business owners do not have sophisticated skills sets.
• Modular education is a big thing. We are behind in comparison to Germany of the United States. Our employers do not contribute to ongoing training and want employees to show up fully trained.
• Fear goes away when people are educated, and they can work towards where they want to be in five or ten years.

Q3) What will help the Indigenous economy continue to grow?

Indigenous youth:

• If 20 per cent of the city’s youth is Indigenous, then 20 per cent of hires need to be Indigenous.
• We must have patient employers. Sometimes people will not show up to work, and there needs to be understanding.
• For every negative thing we mention, we need to mention two positives. We need to give graduates the opportunity to fail, fail, fail, and get better.
• We need to show more examples of success. There is a First Nations Two-spirited woman who is running a successful business – why are we not showcasing this?
• There are data that suicide rates go down in relation to Indigenous sporting events taking place. There can be both economic and significant social benefits of supporting sports events – we need paths for these.

Cultural understanding:

• We need a deeper understanding of how Indigenous people want to operate and their mechanisms and way of understanding.

Economy:

• We miss this when we have discussions without representatives from these groups. There are gaps that we do not know how to fill in.
• Areas to participate in the economy include arts, crafts, tourism, and culture.
• Indigenous communities have different approaches to capitalism and economic development.
• Co-operatives are a great opportunity here, as they emphasize social integration. Economic development needs to work for the community. This can be done by emphasizing the connections with historical Indigenous economic models and co-operatives. This social integration is critical.
• Many Chiefs and Chief in Councils are not aware of co-ops and related models. It would be beneficial to increase awareness and knowledge of them.

Access to capital:

• Indigenous people are not necessarily able to access capital from housing in order to finance business development.

Social safety nets:

• In terms of social nets, if an Indigenous business fails, there can be relationships with the Chief and Council. But if you are off-reserve, there is nothing.

Education:

• MacEwan University is situated uniquely to be able to work in this space. There is a willingness to collaborate with industry. We can do grants and bursaries. MacEwan University will host and we are serious in putting our money where our mouth is. We are a different partner than other major universities.

Q4) How can we improve economic participation in the west of underrepresented groups, including women, youth, and new immigrants

Procurement:

• During a past United States administration, the following question was asked to businesses that supply the government: how diverse is you supplier network? Although no quotas were set, businesses changed how they operated in response. Within six months, there was a supplier diversity network. It is now driving minority employment.
  • We need to follow their lead and create a supplier diversity chain in Canada. Public procurement as a way to encourage diversity is enormous.

Women entrepreneurship:

• Most women-owned businesses do not need million dollar loans. The majority do not even qualify for loans in general.
• Instead of giving money to large businesses for female entrepreneurship, give it to the small female-led businesses that actually need it. It is not fair for it to go to large companies due to broad eligibility criteria.
• Just because a large company has one individual (Indigenous or woman) in the C-suite does not mean it is an Indigenous or women-led business.
• Make sure the program criteria helps the people you actually want to help – not the people we are used to helping.

Q5) How can governments, industry, and western Canadians work together to grow the regional economy?

Technology and innovation:

• We need to collaborate. For artificial intelligence, we need to go narrow and deep.
• We can invest in platforms, because platforms give you something to leap from. There are opportunities in health innovation. We started with one large multi-national company to co-create with us. We created a platform, and now five other multi-nationals are plugging in seven-plus figures each into new opportunities, co-creating with local businesses and not asking for government matching. We have provided the platform to be able to engage companies in areas where we can actually lead.

Learning:

• Do not run away from things we do not completely understand. There are hugely successful healthcare co-operative models. We are scared because were are not educated on the model. This works elsewhere, so let’s educate ourselves. Create a space to educate around the co-operative model.

Government and program design:

• We do not know what things will look like in ten years. We have to have some sort of loophole that allows us to respond to opportunities. Take the request-for-qualifications (RFQ) for the clean growth hub. We did not qualify because they made it so tight that new solutions did not have a place. When you create programs, you need loopholes so if someone can show you an alternate solution, it can be considered.
• There is a women’s entrepreneurship fund. Can we have funds for all other groups too? This will help people get the tools they need. There should be an Indigenous entrepreneurship fund, a new immigrant entrepreneurship fund, etc.