The federal and provincial governments will invest a total of $3 million in the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) to boost business growth in Alberta’s capital.
The money will be used to create an international investment attraction project to encourage companies to start and grow their businesses in the Edmonton region.
“Around the world, leading companies are looking for stable places to invest and grow their businesses,” Minister of Infrastructure Amarjeet Sohi said. “Today’s announcement and partnership with the Government of Alberta and Edmonton Economic Development Corporation will help to strengthen trade and investment opportunities in Edmonton.”
Government officials believe the EEDC attraction program will help diversify the western Canadian economy. They say it will do so by focusing on companies that align with the region’s strengths in health and life sciences, advanced logistics, manufacturing, digital information, communication technology and food and agri-industrial production.
“Alberta’s per capita investment is expected to double the Canadian average this year, investment that helps create new jobs and diversify our economy,” Alberta Minister of Economic Development Deron Bilous said. “Together we want to show even more national and international investors that with our young, highly skilled workforce, world-class infrastructure to get our products to market and lowest overall tax in the country, Alberta is a great place to do business.”
Both levels of government hope the investment will quicken growth in those sectors through “new foreign investments and increased trade opportunities,” the federal government said in a release.
The money is coming from:
- $1 million from Ottawa’s Western Economic Diversification Canada’s Western Diversification Program
- $2 million from the Government of Alberta
- Over the next five years, Ottawa will allocate $218 million to create the Invest in Canada Hub federal body
“The major investment attraction strategy developed by our Trade and Investment division comes at an important time as we move our economy forward,” EEDC president Brad Ferguson said. “We look forward to working with Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Government of Alberta, our regional partners and other cities in the province on a co-ordinated effort to attract
businesses and jobs to our Metro Edmonton region.”
The provincial government said its funding is coming from a $5-million initiative over two years through Budget 2016. In addition to the $2 million allocated to EEDC, $2 million has already been provided to Calgary Economic Development, Alberta officials said.