Building Southeast Alberta's Future

Today on Bring Back The Porch, Brian welcomes Lisa Dressler from the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce, she shares insights on regional economic development, community relationships, and strategic initiatives in Southeast Alberta. Discover how local organizations foster growth, navigate challenges, and leverage regional assets to build a resilient economy.

Building strong business relationships is crucial for economic development and community growth in Southeast Alberta. Brian and Lisa explore effective ways to foster connections within the business community and the significance of maintaining these relationships for future opportunities.

Chapters

00:00 The Importance of Local Trade and Community Engagement
02:54 Showcasing Southeast Alberta: Opportunities and Challenges
05:46 Building Relationships with Municipal Councils
09:00 Alberta's Business Environment and Economic Development
11:45 Agriculture and Inter-Provincial Trade Dynamics
14:52 Aerospace, Defense, and Regional Assets
17:54 Municipal Budgeting and Strategic Planning
21:04 Energy Diversification and Green Initiatives
23:58 Air Service Challenges and Opportunities
27:03 Rail Strategy and Regional Connectivity
29:48 Celebrating Community Achievements and Trade Shows


Why Building Relationships Matters
Building relationships with local businesses and government entities is essential for fostering a robust economic environment. Strong connections can lead to increased collaboration, more significant investments, and a thriving community. In the conversation with Lisa Dressler from the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, she emphasized the importance of nurturing these relationships, especially in a time of economic uncertainty.  

The Role of Community Events
Engaging in community events is a powerful way to build relationships within the business sector. Lisa mentions attending various conferences, trade shows, and local meetings as a way to showcase the community and connect with potential investors.  

Why Attend Community Events?
- Networking Opportunities: Events like the ICSC Conference allow businesses to meet and connect with developers from across North America.
- Showcase Local Assets: Presenting what Southeast Alberta has to offer can attract interest from outside investors.
- Follow-Up: Maintaining communication after events is crucial. It’s not just about making connections but also nurturing them for future opportunities.

Communication with Local Councils
Another critical aspect of building business relationships is effective communication with local councils. Lisa highlights how she liaises with eight different municipal councils in Southeast Alberta.  

Engaging with Provincial and Federal Governments
In addition to local councils, engaging with provincial and federal government representatives is vital for supporting the business community. Lisa describes her recent meetings with ministers to discuss policies that benefit businesses in Southeast Alberta.

Building a Stronger Future Together
In conclusion, building strong business relationships is essential for the economic vitality of Southeast Alberta. By actively engaging with local councils, attending community events, and communicating with government representatives, we can create a supportive environment for business growth

Thank you for listening and sharing you are one in a million! We are excited to announce our community is growing and we couldn't do it with out you! 

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again. And I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can please, like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about bring Back the porch. We certainly rely on the U.S. as our largest trading partner. But I guess on the flip side of that, it has also opened up the opportunity for interprovincial trade to start happening for us to focus on what we have going on locally. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. Well, I can't believe that it just taken 130 plus episodes before we could have Lisa Dressler from the Southeast Chamber of Commerce in as a guest. Thank you for having me. Where have you been? Well, just been doing just a couple blocks away. I know there's always. Yeah, there's always lots going on, and I'm. I'm so pleased that you reached out for the opportunity to connect, because this has certainly been, something that I've been watching from the sidelines and something I've certainly, wanted to see get off the ground and very supportive of. So, seeing local stories come to life through Bring Back the Porch and local organizations, be able to have that voice and to be able to have that time to to connect with community through podcasts, through YouTube and just get that message out there in a different way. You were one of the first people to reach out to us after, Patterson turned out the lights at chat television. And you were instrumental in getting us connected with Bernie and getting Bring Back the Porch on the air. So we thank you for that. There is life after chat. It was my honor, truly, because I always appreciated the chat team, being able to connect and what a lot of people didn't see was the conversations off air. Certainly I appreciated being able to come on to the news or, you know, the election specials or whatever we might be doing at that particular point in time. But being able to connect with each of the news crew as people and as community advocates and passionate about, you know, what each of you do and the stories that you're able to tell and and trying to find a way that that could continue on because I think that was always an important part of our community. We were talking before we went on the air about the importance of relationships, and I always used to tell young reporters that you need to build a relationship with your contacts so that they can trust you, and this is one way that we are building relationships is, through Bring Back the Porch. And you've been busy building relationships, most recently in a special, conference out in Whistler, BC. Yeah, we have been busy the last couple months. So from, conference in Whistler to our local trade show here in Medicine Hat, up to Edmonton for meetings with ministers and different dignitaries. And then continuing on, you know, those conversations as, as time goes on. And so we had the opportunity to showcase our community out at the iCSC conference, which essentially is a developer conference that brings developers from across North America. Particularly for that one to create relationships, connections. For us, it was about showcasing our community and showing off, Medicine Hat and southeast Alberta to to potential investors and developers. And again, making those points of contact. But the real work now not only happens at the conference, but after the fact and and maintaining that communication and follow up and connection to ensure that if the time isn't right now, perhaps, you know, it might be a year from now or two years from now, and and you never know what those contacts and connections will bring down the line when when you establish a rapport and relationship and you showcase the assets that we have. And one of the things that I was really pleased with was you know, the accolades that we had. So there was a number of people I had the opportunity to speak with. I said, oh, you guys have a lot going on in southeast Alberta. And of course, for those that weren't familiar with Medicine Hat. I am a huge champion for this area and being able to showcase that and and talk about it and why people should come out here. And just being that ambassador, you know, business environment, medicine that good or bad. So we haven't seen the same kind of growth as other areas of the province. And I think we often hear that from the business community is when are we going to see some of that growth? When are we going to see, economic development really happen? Because obviously we want growth within our commercial sector, and it helps everybody. When you see commercial growth. Our businesses are the ones that support, our social sectors and, and charitable organizations or donations or volunteer time they give back to the community. Their tax base contributes to the services that we enjoy each and every day. So commercial growth is is certainly important. And we haven't seen the same levels as as some of our other mid-sized, municipalities in Alberta. And so I think there's that, that sentiment that, that hampers, you know, some of the positive news or positive, that we can kind of tap into and, and looking at the businesses that we do have and, and retention being really key. We know these days that retention is just as important as investment attraction. And what are we doing to keep our businesses here. And so there's a lot of things, I think, happening in behind the scenes that are positioning our region for growth to occur. So it it feels really good right now in terms of the potential that we have that we can tap into. We have a new city council as well that you've been working with. That is only one. And you just pointed it out before we went on the air and I had, you know, slapped my hand for forgetting that there are other councils out there that you also liaise with. Yes. So we have eight different municipal councils within our southeast Alberta area. So you're right. Medicine Hat is is just one of those eight. During the elections, I remark that I was dealing with 87 different candidates, via email and trying to coordinate, the forms that we had and, and ensure that we had established those connections and offered them our congratulations post election. And then looking at ways that we can connect with each of the councils in terms of how do we move those priorities forward for the business community. So we had the opportunity to meet with members of, three of our councils here in, some medicine at Cypress County in the town of Redcliffe. And just again, it comes down to relationships, you know, making sure that we establish that contact point in those relationships between council and our board of directors. First and foremost, we'll be going to present to the city of Brooks next week. On the 23rd will be meeting with the town of Bassano on the 26th. And we're going to be, we had presented to the County of Newell back in June, and they had a lot of stability within their their council. So there you know, we have those relationships established there, going to the village of Dutchess. But each of them we've reached out to to offer our congratulations in connection and primarily focused on what can we do to ensure the business community is supported and that we can focus on policies that will drive growth within our reach. You also have to liaise with the Alberta government, and we have a new spring session of the legislature happening. And you've probably seen what some of the pieces of legislation, what they're hoping to accomplish in this setting. Is it, positive for business? I think there's a lot of good things happening within the province for our business community. We were just up in Edmonton meeting with ministers last week, March 10th. We had our political action day with our Alberta Chamber counterparts on March 11th. And one of the sentiments, certainly I shared, when we had the opportunity for a bit of a Q&A, was that Alberta is the best place in the country to do business. We have a lot of pro-business policy and tax structure that works for our business community. We hear that often from outside investors in terms of the opportunity here in Alberta, are there things that we need to work on and change our ways? Often, you know, there's there's a big policy agenda at large, legislative agenda that crosses many different facets of community, from education and health to economic development and and many different ministries. And so our job is, of course, to profile those things that, would make it easier or more cost effective, more efficient for both government and business and create that win for, for our province. And so some of those we do have a large, agriculture portfolio in our chamber. So obviously in southeast Alberta, agriculture is a huge economic driver in our region. And we want to ensure that policies are such that they're supported. And so everything from ag education and ensuring people know where their food comes from to managing business risk management program. So, agriculture insurance or agri insurance and agri stability and, and advocacy for those. And looking at interprovincial trade. So interprovincial trade, there have been, movements made and strides made, you know, federally to ensure that those barriers are being broken down. But certainly we know in agriculture, in agrifood, there are still many barriers that still exist. And so working with our provincial and federal counterparts in terms of what can we do to improve that environment. And one of our conversations just last week with Minister Secrets and was also on investment attraction. So how do we position our region to ensure that we're prime and well suited for investment opportunities to come here when it comes to agriculture and agrifood? And I had the conversation with Minister Hunter about the agrifood corridor and making sure that southeast Alberta is positioned to to take advantage of that designated industrial zone focused on agriculture, specifically across our southern Alberta region and so, yeah, there's always lots on the docket, always lots to talk about. And, I actually sent a letter to Minister Lagrange this morning, with regards to our allied health professionals and making sure that, there's equitable billing and opportunities for allied health professionals within the health care system. So you can see that our portfolio and the things that we work on are quite broad. And then locally, you know, coming up, I'll be engaging on and providing input feedback on our water strategy as well as our air service. So, you know, anything that intersects with business, we're generally at the table and having those conversations a lot of gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands in the last, 11 months, 12 months about tariffs coming from the United States. But they also offer an opportunity. So the interesting thing with the tariffs, particularly with the US, is that Alberta is actually when you look at all the provinces across Canada, Alberta is the least impacted. I certainly don't want to understate the impacts that those have for any businesses that aren't protected under the Canada US-Mexico trade agreement, and I think 2026 is going to be a pivotal moment in time in terms of what that negotiation looks like and what those trade agreements will look like moving forward, because we certainly rely on the US as our largest trading partner. But I guess on the flip side of that, it has also opened up the opportunity for interprovincial trade to start happening for us to focus on what we have going on locally. When we look at things like defense spending and trade agreements with other countries, we are prime. When we look at southeast Alberta in the eastern Alberta trade corridor, from Cold Lake to Wainwright to down to Suffield, and what we have across our region, I think it is about positioning and making sure that we amplify our voice and the opportunity that we have here and that we're ready, for, for those opportunities and and ready, willing, able. Yes. To take that on. So, yes, with every with every challenge, there's always an opportunity on, on the other side. So it is positive to see some of those trade negotiations happening on a global front. And certainly as a business community, we lean on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Often is is right alongside and in those, involved in some of those same conversations on an industry side that that government would be having with their counterparts in, in other countries, world events have put more focus on defense. We do have CFB Suffield here. We have the drone, industry as well here. So those are two pretty good. Chips that we can play. We have amazing assets in this region. So we talked a little bit about agriculture and agrifood. But another huge sector is aerospace. And defense. So when we look at aviation and and the development in the drone industry and defense and DC. So seeing what's happening with borders and, you know, the reinvestment by about us and CFB Suffield in DC and having the largest live fire training base in NATO, I think all speaks to, you know, again, the the resiliency, strength and the assets that we have in southeast Alberta that often, you know, fly under the radar. And then the beyond visual line of sight out and foremost, without airspace, we have a very unique airspace that, again, positions as well for, for opportunities out there. Yeah. Taxes. We have seen, city taxes go up. The city budget was presented and it was 5.6%. And then property tax increase. And then now the province has added more under the education portion of that that does hurt people and their buying power. So that is one challenge that you have to face I guess, for sure. And I think when we look at, cost increases, any cost increases. So whether we see it, you know, with the cost of fuel going up or when you see it with taxation going up. But one of the things we certainly keep an eye on is what's happening across the rest of the country. And I can I can state that, you know, it's we watch other municipalities in Alberta, we analyze, you know, what is happening with different rates across our province, but also across the country. And and it is something we're seeing, you know, unilaterally. There isn't, you know, necessarily a pocket out there where, you know, they're they're necessarily in a more favorable position and, and some communities are being hit even harder with the education requisition. And I think it is important to note that as our province grows and as classrooms, you know, as as there are more families and individuals that need education, that is going to put a strain on our education system. And as communities request more schools and more teachers and there there is a reciprocal cost to that, you can't have more services or more capital expenditure or more infrastructure without that cost being covered. Now my hope is with fuel costs, with, you know, the price of oil and gas that's going to help some of those royalties and some of the revenue coming into the province as well. And so, you know, as soon as yes, we see it at the pump, but any time I see that I also look at, okay, how is that going to affect the provincial budget. And then when we look at municipal budgets, I think what a lot of people, perhaps don't always see is the whole process of municipal budgeting. So it actually starts at the strategic planning stage. What are the priorities for our community? What does our community want for services? And, you know, parks, trails, roads, infrastructure. And what are those needs that we need to ensure we maintain? But also what are the growth opportunities and what does that cost? And that comes from a strategic planning stage. So right now with municipalities is a really critical time because we just had the election. Municipal councils typically meet within the first quarter of the new calendar year for strategic planning. That then gives the direction to administration for their business plans and the budgets that they'll they'll now start to create, which then creates the environment for what the tax rate will be. So it actually starts at the strategic planning stage. You move to that budget and business planning process, which then council approves in the fall. And then we look at our assessment base. So what are our properties actually worth in the city. And that's both residential and nonresidential. And multifamily. And so when we look at the property values in the city then it's up to administration to apply a mill rate to the value of their properties, because that budget has already been approved. Right. And so the tax rate is essentially an outcome of the budget. So if you want to really influence change, it's gotta happen at the strategic planning stages, beginning right in the beginning in terms of what do we want as a community, what does that cost? And then what are the business plans and budgets. Because the the assessment is a value that's set, you know, the price of your home, the value of your home, the value of your business. That's that's an assessment. That's a market value approach. And then the mill rate is essentially applying the tax rate so that we can actually, you know, bring in the budget dollars that are required. So it it starts a lot sooner. And I think most people start, you know, the the process or the advocacy side when they get their tax rate or their tax bill in the mail in June. But it starts much, much sooner than that. And we really have to have the conversations as a community in terms of what do we want, what does that cost and what are the revenue sources to bring that money in? Yeah, one of the opportunities that the City Council in Medicine Hat is looking at right now is the Sam solar project. They have, voted in favor of moving forward with the next phase involving, I think, borrowing $165 million. And that had a lot of people's eyes open. But it's what we're they're not telling us right now that they can't tell us. That intrigues me, because we saw in the campaign many councilors who said, no, I don't want this project. But when it came to a vote, they were all unanimous. So it tells me there's underlying currents there. They've got something maybe on the line, I don't know, but I think that is one of the things we're going to have to watch carefully in the 2026. We do have a session coming up with, City of Medicine, the energy division, specifically to take a deeper dive into, you know, some of that information. Obviously, we only have access and can ask questions similar to anybody else in terms of what's publicly available. We don't get confidential information either. But when you look at the motion that was approved, there were guardrails to that. There was a very specific things that needed to occur for that to move forward, which when you read between the lines, gives some indication of of the why behind that. There's also, the energy transition reserve, like there's reserve funds that have been set aside specifically for the purpose of, of energy data diversification. Because we know natural gas is a nonrenewable resource. Were buying off the market in terms of our natural gas. So there's a cost to that. And so how do we look at diversifying that portfolio? We certainly know that we've had a lot of members and investors, approach us to say we need green energy. We need diversified energy. We need more options in the market. Because when you look at, carbon pricing, it's not just something that the province is planning for or the federal government. There's actually global targets that are in place that countries have to meet. And there's certain things that need to be done. So and companies also have ESG requirements and, metrics and targets. And so green energy, when they're looking at investment or expansion, you know, different opportunities, they also need to ensure that their, you know, energy mix is diversified. It's why you see a lot of, you know, very traditional oil and gas companies moving into more diversified energy portfolios. And so, again, we have to look at what does that mean for our region, and how do we ensure that we do stabilize our rates long term because we know, you know, the price of gas is increasing? We know there's factors beyond our control locally in terms of the impacts that has on us. And and how do we plan and strategize and ensure that we're prepared for that so that we are being more reactive than proactive. And so as a chamber, we don't have a position, but we've certainly done a lot of research, and we do have a lot of information, that we've been able to review. And we do heed, you know, the input and advice of our members. And we know that there's many of our members that still, are uncertain and do have questions. And we we also respect, that in terms of, you know, the last thing businesses want is uncertainty. And right now, we certainly recognize that the only certain thing is uncertainty when it comes to trade and global impacts. And, you know, various things that have a ripple effect, you know, on our economy and our pockets and our bank accounts and our budgets. Some of those things are beyond our control. So we always have to look at what can we control. Yeah, WestJet has decided that, it will no longer serve medicine. That I think is some point in June that hurts. But also, again, an opportunity for somebody else. Yeah, it does hurt because we were working on that portfolio long before they came here, in 2018. And we were very excited. I think in 2018, 2019 were really great year for air service in our community. We had Air Canada, we had WestJet, we had a private carrier that was in our region, and, you know, things seem to be ticking along. And then of course, we had, you know, a major pandemic that did impact airlines across the globe, quite frankly. And yeah, there's there's business decisions that come with, you know, the the impacts of financial impacts if we're not meeting those metrics. I think there was certainly lots of concerns in our community in terms of reliability and frequency and connections. And that impacts the amount that people will use, local service if they're not meeting their individual needs in terms of, you know, again, reliability and connection and, and making sure it's cost effective and affordable for people to travel out of our, our local airport. I traveled out of our local airport, any opportunity, you know, where I was traveling just because I know if you don't use the service, you lose it. And it takes about, you know, 6 to 7 years is the statistic I was given to get an air service back once you've lost it, however, you know it is about looking at other carriers, looking at other opportunities. We had some great success with our airport in terms of the utilization, overall utilization of the airport. But having a carrier, you know, a, a, you know, passenger carrier in our region is important. And there are other carriers out there, and we are we've been having meetings about what are the next steps and how do we advocate and what does that look like? There was, funding set aside in the provincial budget for regional air service. We've had conversations. And it's just a matter of, okay, what does it look like now? And what can we do again, going back to what's in our control and what can we do now? Because we certainly know that Air Service is an economic driver, and it is important to have that connectivity, to international markets and our, our larger companies certainly, prioritize and, and want to see good regional air service here. Yeah. Another way to get around is by rail. And we lost our passenger service here in 1990. But there's talk now that there might be a high speed rail connection, North-South through Calgary and Red deer, Edmonton. I don't know if that offers any opportunity for us to get a, regional connection into a rail, hub again. Yeah. There's actually information publicly available about, that rail strategy and what that looks like. And connections into regional markets. Obviously, that's likely a little further down the road, but, the, the vision and strategy is certainly out there. And, I, I've certainly taken a look at that and again, relaying on my questions in terms of what does that look like here and what does the timeline look like? But certainly being able to have bus and shuttle service and, and those services, at least to get you to where you need to be in the meantime? Yeah, for about 46 years now, there's been an elephant in the downtown, and that has been the property at 601 First Street. Vacant. They tried to make it into, a gathering place layer, through some of the funding that came through as a result of Covid. There's a canopy over it now, but that property needs to be developed. Yeah. So the chamber has had a long standing policy position to develop that and to ensure that that is developed by private industry. And there have been a lot of barriers put up on that property that have prohibited private development from moving forward. There have certainly I've seen proposals and I've seen plans, and really great plans for that property. And there have been a few over the years. And so the chamber had developed a position to say, hey, take the guardrails off, allow, you know, let the market decide, let private development decide, because generally development knows what's best. They're not going to do something that's not going to be successful or, you know, profitable. And so opening that up to private industry. So put it back on the market. Let's let's get some movement there. And we also have another policy on underutilized land in the city because again, we do have a lot of opportunity when we look at cost control, you know, you want to be able to develop land or underutilized land in the city because there is services already there and available. So you're not having to put new infrastructure in. And so we want to ensure that we're maximizing what we have. 2025 was an anniversary year for the Chamber of Commerce. And I know you had lots of, celebrations. And maybe we'd like to celebrate that right now. Well, I appreciate that, Ryan, because we had a lot of success. We celebrated our 125th year in business. And I know you're history buff and you love, you know, the historical references. And certainly the chamber has been involved and part of a lot of the development of our community. I always joke that the chamber existed before the city was a city did before the province was a province. We were actually established in the district of us in a boy back in 1900, May 1900. And so our anniversary year was a way to commemorate that. So we had six Avenue, actually, renamed to Commerce Way. And and certainly indicative of the businesses that have been along that street. And there was an Our Town episode that highlighted that which I very much appreciate it. You know, we have a historic building. We were able to launch our legacy fund to support, future entrepreneurs, through charitable purposes. So the Community Foundation of Southeast Alberta, we hosted the Alberta Chamber Provincial Conference. We were recognized as chamber of the year and one of the fastest growing chambers in Canada. So there was so much to celebrate within our our legacy year 125th year. So we've actually captured a lot of that information on our website. If people go to Southeast Alberta Chamber, okay. And go to the About Us section, they'll see a legacy page that highlights some of those successes. And the trade show most recently was a well attended. Our trade show is the largest and longest running trade show in southeast Alberta. We introduced another one in our one in Brooks in the fall. But we were really pleased to see this Laos trade show sold out trade show, filling the auditorium Pavilion field hosts at the Medicine Hat exhibition Stampede Grounds. It's interesting because we we collected postal code data this year. We do it through our ballots, to try to track where traffic is coming from. And the last time we did was, I believe it was 20, 1819 that we did kind of a map. And we have that in through our annual reports on our website. But we, we've attracted people from coast to coast to coast and even down, you know, into the, into the US. A lot of our traffic does come from across southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan. But we certainly attract, you know, as far up as northern Alberta to come down to our trade show. So really positive sentiments about, you know, 7000 people are pretty typical, hoping to continue to grow that and grow the, the attendees. But, I would say the biggest thing is how do our businesses do how, you know, it's it's a way to showcase, commerce and trade and new concepts, new ideas, and really to connect, consumers with our, our business community and to start those relationships the right back to where we started the conversation. Well, and it's amazing because I, I will regularly talk about the importance of, of connection and relationship. So whether that's through the work that we do in the chamber and we do we do reference our members as part of our chamber family because it often feels like family when you connect and you build that rapport with people and you know, you know what makes them tick and you know what they're looking for in, you know, what their their hopes and dreams are. And trade shows really same kind of thing. It's that face to face connection. So a lot of people say, well, I don't, you know, I don't necessarily have the time or, you know, there's a lot of cost to that. And we often will will counter with, when else can you get 7000 people through your door over the course of of three days and be able to have that face time? So even if you're not making a sale at the show, you're creating a memorable moment in time when you connect with people and when you can actually, find out more about them and, and tell them a little bit more about you. It was nice to reconnect with Lisa Dressler from the Chamber of Commerce. And let's make sure that you come back, not after another 131 episodes, maybe a little bit frequently. Well, Brian, you always know I have lots to talk about, so I'm happy to come in whenever you will. Help me. Podcast host loves. It was a guest talks. Thank you Lisa. Thank you. Do.