1.1 – Western Canada Snapshot

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Economic Assets

Natural Resources

Rich in natural resources, with the world’s largest potash reserves, third-largest uranium reserves, and third-largest crude oil reserves.

Agricultural Land

Farming operations that span 85 percent of  Canada’s farmland.

Emerging Sectors

Developing expertise in sectors, such as value-added agriculture, clean technology, and digital technology.

People

Growing workforce that is young, entrepreneurial, and skilled.

Untapped Potential

Our economy will be stronger if every western Canadian participates.

However, there remains significant untapped potential in key demographic groups, including Indigenous peoples, women, and youth.

• Indigenous youth are the fastest growing population in the West, but continue to face higher unemployment rates (18%) than non-Indigenous youth (10%).
• Women majority-owned businesses account for just 15% of SMEs and tend to have fewer employees.
• Over half of the West’s population is under the age of 40. Young western Canadians are entering the labour market later in life and are more vulnerable to being the ‘last hired and first fired’ during economic downturns.

Limits to Growth

• In the wake of weak potash, uranium, oil, and natural gas prices, western Canada’s economy has slowed considerably, costing the entire Canadian economy.
• There is an over reliance on the US market. More than 70% of western exports by value ($150 billion) are destined for the US.
• Trade actions by other countries can hurt western Canadian exporters, such as when China imposed import restrictions on Canadian canola and pork.
• Investment in western Canada has declined sharply. Annual capital expenditures in the West fell by $26.7 billion in 2015, dropped another $17.1 billion in 2016, and have yet not recovered.
• Transportation bottlenecks are limiting western Canada’s export market diversification
  • When pipeline capacity does not keep up with demand, the impact spreads to other modes of transportation; particularly railways.
  • The Lower Mainland of BC is the largest nexus of international trade infrastructure in Canada. Increasing capacity is a pressing issue for all shippers in the West.
• With access to adequate water and infrastructure to support irrigation farming, prairie farmers and agri-food producers could become a world leader in plant protein and food production.

Regional Complexity

Communities of all sizes across the West are tackling unique and complex issues.

• Vancouver boasts low unemployment rates, but home ownership costs account for 85 percent of household incomes.
• Despite being affordable, Calgary is struggling with persistent unemployment and high downtown vacancy rates.
• Mid-sized cities such as Kelowna, Lethbridge, and Brandon are growing rapidly. New residents are attracted to expanding knowledge-based industries and affordable real estate.
• Population growth in the Kootenay and Cariboo regions of BC has slowed due to challenges with the restructuring of the forestry and mining sectors.
• Small, rural, remote, and Indigenous communities are dealing with citizen and infrastructure pressures, but have less resources to draw on than larger communities.
• High-speed broadband access in rural communities across the prairies is among the lowest in Canada. In 2017, only one percent of rural communities in Saskatchewan had access to broadband, compared to nine percent in Alberta, and 10 percent in Manitoba. These rates were well below the national rate of 37 percent. This lack of connectivity limits business growth and amplifies feelings of social isolation (Source CRTC).

Feeling the Effects

The impact of falling commodity prices has hit western Canadians hard.

• Between October 2015 and February 2016, western Canada lost 133,000 jobs (50,000 in Alberta, 37,000 in BC, 25,000 in Saskatchewan, and 21,000 in Manitoba).
• Unemployment increased from 4.6 percent in December 2014 to a high of 7.6 percent in February 2016. By September 2019, western Canada’s overall unemployment was only slightly higher than the national average, but regional rates remain high in many parts of Alberta, along with northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
• Per-capita disposable income declined by $1,600 across the West between 2015 and 2016.

Recovery has been slow and some are still feeling the effects of a lagging economy.

• As of September 2019, 340,000 people looking for work are unemployed across the West.
• The West’s share of regular EI beneficiaries across Canada remains above 25 percent, higher than any point in the 20 years prior to 2015.
• Earnings growth for western Canadians is falling behind other areas of Canada.

Public Perception & Trust

Discontent in western Canada is at its highest since 1987. People across the region feel they have little influence on national decisions.

• For the first time, a majority of those polled in Alberta and Saskatchewan agreed that “Western Canada gets so few benefits from being part of Canada that they might as well go it on their own.”¹

Many western Canadians support oil and gas development but want it to be cleaner and more productive. However, many feel their voices are drowned out as the national debate on resource development and environmental stewardship heats up.

• Concerns over the environmental impacts of pipelines and increased tanker traffic off the coast of BC has stoked opposition to major infrastructure projects.
• When the Energy East pipeline was proposed, Quebec voiced opposition.
• Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments are opposing federal carbon taxes.

Taking Action

The challenges facing the West cannot be addressed by WD alone.

There are opportunities for national leadership on issues that are top-of-mind for people in the West.

• Vigorously defend both an ambitious environmental policy and resource development policy.
• Support investment for value-added initiatives in western Canada’s  natural resource and agricultural sectors.
• Continue investment in emerging sectors to help to diversify the economy and create new opportunities for western Canadians.
• Demonstrate federal commitment to the West by talking directly with western Canadians and taking action.
• Be open to working differently and engaging new partners.

WD’s Role

With 30 years of experience in western Canada, WD has the regional expertise and on-the-ground relationships to implement government priorities.

But, there is room for improvement.

• WD can have greater influence on national policies and programs that have a direct impact in the West. Too often, made-in-Ottawa approaches do not meet western Canadians’ unique needs.
• WD can be better at attracting resources and developing partnerships to be more responsive to western challenges and opportunities.
• WD’s footprint throughout the four provinces can be enhanced to help the department be more visible in communities, enabling deeper relationships and partnerships.

Grow West

WD is in a unique position to spearhead a national effort to implement made-in-the west solutions.

• In fall 2018, WD held a significant public engagement to ask western Canadians what a stronger western economy would look like 10 years from now.
• Grow West: The Western Canada Growth Strategy is a call to action for WD and partners to position the west for success.
• This is not a generic blueprint. Western leaders and stakeholders have identified 30 priorities across four interrelated pillars – Diversification, Trade, Skills, and Communities.
• This strategy is ambitious. Nine federal departments, including WD, are co-leading the pillars.
• Leaders across western Canada are eager to talk about partnership opportunities, but some are skeptical that government will act.
• We have an opportunity to prove them wrong.

Who WD Has Engaged

Participants included businesses, industry, academia, Indigenous communities and organizations, provinces, municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals.

Manitoba

• Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce
• AKI Energy
• Association des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba
• Bioscience Association Manitoba
• Commissariat aux langues officielles Manitoba/Saskatchewan
• Community Futures West Interlake
• Éco-Ouest
• EnviroTREC
• Francofonds Inc.
• Government of Manitoba
• Information and Communication Technologies Association of Manitoba (ICTAM)
• Johnston Group
• Manitoba Chambers of Commerce
• Manitoba Council for International Education
• Manitoba Technology Accelerator
• Mobilisation du Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba
• New Media Manitoba
• Personnel du CDEM
• Precision ADM
• Projet de gestion des matières ligneuses de la région de la Rivière de Winnipeg
• Projet ECA (Échanges commerciaux Canada-Afrique)
• Province of Manitoba
• Red River College
• Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité (RDÉE Canada)
• Réseau en immigration francophone du Manitoba
• University College of the North (UCN)
• University of Winnipeg
• Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba
• World Trade Centre Winnipeg

British Columbia

• Axine Water Technologies
• Bank of Canada
• BC Council of Forest Industries
• BC Mining Association
• BC Tech Association
• Business Council of British Columbia
• Buy Social Canada
• City of Prince George
• College of New Caledonia
• Community Futures Boundary
• Community Futures British Columbia
• Community Futures North Okanagan
• Community Futures Stuart Nechako
• Creative BC
• District of New Hazelton
• First Nations Technology Council
• Government of BC - Ministry of Jobs, Trade, and Technology
• Government of BC - Office of the BC Innovation Commissioner
• Greater Vancouver Gateway Council
• Innovation Central Society
• Kim Baird Strategic Consulting
• LifeSciences BC
• Port Alberni Port Authority
• Prince George Airport Authority
• Prince Rupert Port Authority
• S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
• Surrey Board of Trade
• Translink
• University of British Columbia
• University of Northern British Columbia
• University of Victoria
• Vancouver Economic Commission
• Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
• WestGrid

Saskatchewan

• Ag-West Bio Inc.
• Athabasca Basin Development
• Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs
• Cameco
• Canadian Light Source
• Chief Little Black Bear First Nation
• Clarence Campeau Development Fund
• Co.Labs
• Community Futures Prince Albert
• Conexus Credit Union
• Co-operatives First
• Des Nedhe Development LP
• Economic Development Regina
• EVRAZ
• Federated Co-operative Limited
• First Nation’s Power Authority
• Genome Prairie
• Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce
• ISM Canada
• Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
• Keewatin Career Development Corporation
• Mayor and Council for the Northern Village of Green Lake
• Meadow Lake Tribal Council Business Development
• Morris Industries Ltd.
• Mosaic/Saskatchewan Mining Association
• New North-Sask Association of Northern Communities
• North West Communities Wood Products
• Points Athabasca Pro Metal Industries
• Sask Polytech
• Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association
• Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce
• Saskatchewan Co-operative Association
• Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence
• Saskatchewan Research Council
• Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership
• Saskatchewan Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (SYPE)
• Saskatoon Berry Council of Canada
• Square One
• Tribal Chief File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council
• University of Saskatchewan Department of Physics and Engineering Physics
• Westcap Management Ltd
• Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan Inc.

Alberta

• Alberta Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurs
• Alberta Community & Co-Operative Association
• Alberta Construction Association
• Alberta Enterprise Corporation
• Alberta Forest Products Association
• Alberta Health Services
• Alberta Indian Investment Corporation
• Alberta Indigenous Relations
• Alberta Innovates
• Alberta Women Entrepreneurs
• Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association
• Bio Alberta
• Blackline Safety
• Business Link
• Calgary Economic Development
• Canada West Foundation
• Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance
• Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
• Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
• CEO - Alberta Council of Technologies Society
• City of Calgary
• City of Calgary’s Recreation Management Team
• City of Edmonton Administration
• Community Futures Crowsnest Pass
• Community Futures Highwood
• Community Futures Peace Country
• Community Futures St. Paul - Smoky Lake Region - Northeast Food Marketers
• Community Futures St. Paul - Smoky Lake Region - Sector: Chamber of Commerce/Small Business, Elk Point, AB
• Community Futures St. Paul - Smoky Lake Region - Sector: Not For Profits/Small Business, St. Paul, AB
• Community Futures St. Paul - Smoky Lake Region - Sector: Volunteers/Business, St. Paul, AB
• Community Futures St. Paul - Smoky Lake Region - St. Paul, AB
• Community Futures Treaty 7
• Connection Silicon Valley
• Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta
• Creative Destruction Labs – Rockies
• Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta
• Economic Developers Alberta
• Economic Development Lethbridge
• Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
• Edmonton Economic Development Corporation
• Edmonton Global
• Edmonton International Airport
• Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board
• Edmonton Screen Industries Office
• Faculty of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta
• Farmers Edge
• Flexahopper Plastics Ltd.
• GO Productivity
• Government of Alberta - Economic Development and Trade
• Growing Greener Innovations
• Independent Community/Business Developer
• Indian Business Corporation
• Indigenous Services Canada
• Indigenous Tourism Alberta
• Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce
• Lethbridge College
• MacEwan University
• Metis Nation of Alberta
• Metis Settlement General Council
• Momentum
• Natural Resources Canada
• Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• Office of Randy Boissonnault
• Paul First Nations Band
• Peraton Canada
• Public Service and Procurement Canada
• Raytheon Canada
• Rivet Management
• Royal Bank of Canada
• SeedUps Canada
• Settlement Investment Corporation
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
• SouthGrow Regional Initiative
• Technology Pathfinders
• The Centre for Innovation Studies
• Toma & Bouma Management Consultants, New West Networks Inc.
• Total Containment Inc.
• TradeWinds to Success
• Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta
• Tribal Chiefs Ventures
• UNIGLOBE LGI Travel
• University Hospital Foundation
• University of Calgary
• University of Lethbridge
• Unmanned Systems Canada
• VizworX Inc.
• WaVv
• Western Canadian Defence Industries Association
• Women Building Futures
• Yardstick Software

Grow West: The Western Canada Growth Strategy

Four Interrelated Pillars For Growth

A Call to Action

Western Canadians want a more innovative, inclusive, and connected economy

Diversification
Build a broader economy

Government of Canada Leads:

• Western Economic Diversification Canada
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
• Natural Resources Canada
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Trade
Seize global opportunities

Government of Canada Leads:

• Global Affairs Canada
• Transport Canada

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Skills
Talent for the new economy

Government of Canada Leads:

• Employment and Social Development Canada
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

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Communities
Connected to innovation & growth

Government of Canada Leads:

• Infrastructure Canada
• Centre for Rural Economic Development

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Appendix: Regional Context

Focus on: British Columbia

Key Opportunities

• Support the continued growth of BC’s cleantech sector.
  • BC’s cleantech sector boasts nearly 300 companies and more than 10,000 employees. Key strengths include skilled, experienced serial entrepreneurs willing to work collaboratively, world-class technical and engineering talent, a robust ecosystem of supporting assets (e.g., research universities, accelerators, governments), and access to other areas of adjacent technology in BC (e.g., digital technology, artificial intelligence).
• Create positive relationships with Indigenous peoples and work toward mutual economic benefit.
  • Joint work between federal and provincial departments, together with industry and Indigenous organizations, is needed to explore mutually beneficial options to advance projects and support communities across BC.
• Support businesses and communities in areas impacted by mill closures in the forestry sector.
  • BC’s forestry sector is facing widespread production curtailments and mill closures. The value of year-to-date softwood lumber exports through August was down 24.5 percent in 2019 versus the previous year.²
• Support construction as an economic driver in BC.
  • BC’s construction sector has strength in both the residential and non-residential segments, including major projects like LNG Canada, Site C, and upgrades at hospitals, ports, and other transportation infrastructure.

Opportunities for the Minister

• Respond to communities’ concerns over the forestry downturn. WD can act as a delivery agent for incremental federal community adjustment and resiliency programming for impacted communities.
• Support  initiatives and programs that promote business scale-up and ecosystem development in the cleantech sector; and strengthen linkages between BC suppliers of cleantech and customers in the West’s oil and gas sector.

Focus on: Alberta

Key Opportunities

• Alberta can be positioned as a clean energy producer with strong labour and environmental standards.
  • The province’s world-scale energy resources and growing hydrocarbon petrochemical cluster creates billions of dollars in value and thousands of jobs.
  • Indigenous communities in Alberta benefit from energy sector opportunities, further bolstering support of the sector.
  • Several Indigenous organizations are interested in equity ownership of the federally-owned TMX pipeline.
• Support job creation in Alberta’s emerging sectors, such as value-added energy products, machine learning, health data analytics, clean resources technology, agri-food, and digital technologies.
  • The province boasts one of the youngest growing population in the country with nearly 70 percent of its labour force in possession of a post-secondary credential.

Opportunities for the Minister

• Champion Alberta’s natural resourced-based economy to accelerate a diversified and sustainable future by building national recognition of the advances made by the energy sector to develop world-class clean technologies that produce cleaner hydrocarbons.
• Support growth of emerging sectors through investments and advocacy efforts. Sectors include machine learning, health technologies, and value-added energy products and services.
• Support labour force development programs like tech internship programs to cultivate a talent mix that can support economic diversification and provide labour opportunities for underrepresented groups like women, youth, and Indigenous peoples.

Focus on: Saskatchewan

Key Opportunities

• Saskatchewan leads the western provinces in agri-food export sales at $13.4 billion in 2018, accounting for over 40% of Saskatchewan’s total exports.
• Global demand for food and plant protein is rapidly rising. By 2050, global food demand is expected to rise by 70%. By synergizing the arable acres and abundant water resources in Saskatchewan, more nutritious food would be produced while creating economic growth opportunities for the province. A transformative water project, a new water canal, that provides reliable water access to farmers to produce higher value crops and to businesses and communities for growth and resilience is currently in discussion for southern Saskatchewan.
• High-speed Internet is critical for communities to thrive in rural and remote areas. Internet connection speeds in 98 percent of households in rural Saskatchewan are too slow, less than 50 Mbps, to support the online delivery of business, e-commerce, education, or health services. Rural high-speed connectivity is necessary to unleash the entrepreneurial potential outside our urban centres.

Opportunities for the Minister

• Building upon Saskatchewan’s agri-food economy, champion the development and advancement of the 90 km water canal from Lake Diefenbaker to Buffalo Pound Lake in southern Saskatchewan through a budget request and engagement with cabinet colleagues and the provincial government.
• Establish early discussions and engagement with the new federal Minister of Rural Economic Development, and the provincial government to increase their financial commitment to establish high-speed internet access to rural and remote communities.

Focus on: Manitoba

Key Opportunities

• Create a northern corridor that connects the northern prairies to global markets.
  • The Port of Churchill is Canada’s only deep water port in the Arctic with a rail network connected to
    key resource markets. Northern Manitoba has the opportunity to become an arctic trade and
    transportation hub.
• Support unprecedented approaches to Indigenous economic growth.
  • Indigenous entrepreneurship is growing five times faster than the rate for self-employed Canadians, and Manitoba has the highest percent of Indigenous people compared to any provincial population in Canada.
• Accelerate growth of unique, globally leading strengths.
  • The lack of extreme economic highs and lows in Manitoba have created steady, unremarkable average annual GDP growth of 2.22% over the last 20 years. To better spur its manufacturing, commodity, and service sectors, ambitious growth strategies are needed. These include accelerating Manitoba’s standing as:
    • North America’s epicentre for motor coach production; a global leader in value-added protein investments; western Canada’s largest centre for aerospace; and a rapidly growing hub for interactive digital media (the fastest growing segment of the provincial economy).

Opportunities for the Minister

• Deliver new models for Nation-to-Nation economic partnerships with Treaty 1 First Nations and the Manitoba Métis Federation.
• Secure the Port of Churchill as a key component of Canada’s Arctic gateway trade corridor.
• Establish Winnipeg as a globally leading zero emission heavy vehicle centre by accelerating a private industry-led cluster.

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