The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce hosted its first State of the Region gathering, bringing together leaders and experts to discuss a collaborative vision of regional development.
"Since the Metro Mayors Alliance produced its final report in 2016, we have known that to compete globally, we have to consolidate locally," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said in his address at the Oct. 6 event, referring to a report called Be Ready, or Be Left Behind that urged a regional mindset without amalgamation.
The message of municipal collaboration has since become central to any conversation about economic growth, as seen in the inaugural forward/slash summit on Sept. 28.
It continued with the State of the Region event, featuring a panel made up of Edmonton Global CEO Malcolm Bruce, Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission CEO Paul Jankowski, Edmonton Airports CEO Tom Ruth, and Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board CEO Karen Wichuk, each laying out their vision of the potential the region has and what needs to change to realize it.
"One of the greatest challenges this region continues to suffer under is a lack of awareness in the global marketplace," Bruce said. When it comes to the major centres that are top of mind for the average global investor when they think about Canada, Edmonton isn't in the mix, he said.
"So anything that you collectively do, in terms of advocating or highlighting some of the incredible attributes that we have here from a regional perspective, drives that perception in the international marketplace even higher."
The region's prospects as a major player in hydrogen and petrochemical markets are often named as reasons to be bullish about Edmonton's economic future. Less talked about is the region's positioning to become an agricultural hub in Canada, and the stability that development in that sector could provide.
"When you think about our region, and the necessity for food security, we have 30% of our region's prime agricultural land, and we don't often talk about this. We do not think about the economic generator that that can be," Wichuk said.
"That could be a $25 billion economic generator. We have not invested in that."
Photo: (From left) Michael Walters moderated a discussion with between Paul Jankowski of the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission, Tom Ruth of Edmonton Airports, Malcolm Bruce of Edmonton Global, and Karen Wichuk of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board on Oct. 6. (EMTSC/Twitter)