OLDS — Small businesses came in for some high praise from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper during the Olds & District Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever Small Business Awards Week kick-off breakfast, held Oct. 16 at the Cacio e Pepe Restaurant.
It’s often said that businesses – including small businesses -- drive the economy. Cooper agrees with that observation, but added they are key to the community in other ways.
“While I 100 per cent believe that is true, much of the small communities in the constituency of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills and clear across this province, are also driven socially by small business, through investment in minor sports, or dance, community activities, social clubs,” he said.
“I think they need to be celebrated for these sorts of things. Because from time to time, business, or small business, or even big business, is vilified as an enemy to good when in fact, overwhelmingly, these industries also recognize their social responsibility, and make a massive impact,” he added.
“And in fact, some of the people in this room who are business leaders in their own right are also incredibly important community leaders.”
Cooper, the speaker of the legislature and a member of the governing United Conservative Party, said the government’s strategies to spur economic growth by cutting corporate taxes and encouraging people to move to Alberta are paying off.
He said as a result of those efforts Alberta will likely lead the nation in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Thanks to the job creation tax cut we generated, we've generated a record corporate income tax revenue with the lowest corporate rate in the country,” he added.
Cooper said the surge of people moving to Alberta is “driving a projected $1.5 billion tax revenue increase” which is “an incredible problem to have.”
He admitted that that influx is intensifying the shortage of housing, especially affordable housing, but said his government has plans to help solve that problem, although he didn’t specify what those steps will be.
Brent Williams, the Town of Olds' chief administrative officer, also spoke during the event.
He agreed with Cooper that local businesses provide many benefits to the community, including driving the economy, so the Town of Olds is trying to attract new business.
“We are trying to just not get in the way, create an environment in the town of Olds where we’re pro-business, welcoming businesses, but also a tax and planning regime that supports that.”
He said the town’s property tax rate on the non-residential side is “one of the lowest in the (Highway) Number 2 corridor.”
Williams said the Town’s planning and development department is doing its best to approve applications while still following provincial rules and procedures.
He said a big problem for governments at all levels is complacency, a feeling that things are just fine the way they are and don’t need to change.
That’s led to some big problems in town, like aging sewer and water infrastructure that is extremely costly to repair or replace.
Williams said the vapour testing conducted recently in the community was part of the effort to address that problem by finding out where and how water is getting into the town’s sewer system.
“We’re finding a lot of it unfortunately costs millions of dollars to fix,” he said.
Like Cooper, Williams touched on the affordable housing crunch faced in Olds and across the country.
“The houses we have are too big and too expensive for the people who are looking for housing,” Williams said.
On top of that, Williams reiterated something he’d mentioned before: the plan by the Olds College of Agriculture & Technology to grow its student population.
He said there’s been “a lot of pushback” against housing other than traditional single-family detached homes.
“People understand there’s a housing need, but when we say ‘hey, what about this?’ (They say) ‘well, not that, we don’t want to fix it that way.’”
He said the town as well as senior levels of government are trying to fix the problem.
Williams said the town is working hard to attract investment and new business to the community.
It's also partnering with the provincial government to bring immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurs to the community via a couple of provincial programs.
The idea is to spur the economy via the entrepreneurs and help fill the labour gap with other immigrants.
“We can’t continue to provide the level of service we do with the ever decreasing amount of money we have. That's why attraction is so important. And we’re fortunate that we’re in an area where there is interest,” he said.
Williams said people are always excited by the idea of new projects, like new recreational facilities, for example, but don’t stop to think how much it will cost to maintain them.
Similarly, people want to see things like nice green boulevards and parks but don’t realize how much it costs to mow that grass to keep it looking nice.
During a question and answer session, Town of Olds Mayor Judy Dahl said Premier Danielle Smith had told delegates during the Alberta Municipalities fall convention that her government’s goal was to bring 10 million people to the province.
She asked Cooper how the provincial government plans to provide water for that many people “when we're sitting today with the infrastructure we have.”
Cooper conceded that such growth comes with challenges, but said that increased population spurs the economy.
He said the province needs to invest more money in new technology to deliver commodities like water more efficiently.
Cooper said that’s already been happening with irrigation. He said due to new technology, farmers and ranchers need less water for irrigation and that leaves more water for other consumers.
In addition, he said this year, the provincial government is projecting a surplus of about $2.4 billion including $2.6 billion to pay down debt and about $2 billion which will go into the province’s Heritage Savings Trust Fund.
Cooper hinted that money could be used to help pay for that infrastructure.
