‘Alberta’s time is now’: Premier Smith speaks to Calgary business leaders

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in Calgary on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. (Your Alberta screenshot)

Posted Nov 18, 2022 6:42 pm.

Last Updated Nov 18, 2022 9:23 pm.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke with business leaders in her first speech with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce at the downtown Westin Hotel Friday.

In it, Smith promised to put business leaders first and to give them a voice during her tenure as premier.

“You really punch above your weight,” Smith said. “You have your fingers on the pulse of everything that happens in Calgary’s business community.”

Smith is encouraging business leaders and entrepreneurs to join the Chambers of Commerce in Alberta to help the province develop policy.

“Because when your voice is strong, it allows you to develop good policy, which then allows us to have confidence when we’re taking your policy ideas and implementing them,” she said.

Smith also added she will listen to business owners when it comes to government decisions.

“The number one thing Alberta can do as a government is to listen to business owners — our job creators — about what you need to run your businesses efficiently and to earn money,” Smith said.

“I’ll be looking to a number of our other partners to secure the best possible future for Alberta and those partners will certainly include our municipal governments. I want to ensure that we can reset the relationship between our government and our municipal leaders because we are all serving the same people.”

Recently appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs Rebecca Shultz was put in her role to build those connections with municipal leaders, according to Smith.

Provincial ambition for Calgary job creation

Smith spoke of her experience as a business owner, her time at CORUS Entertainment as a radio host, and her restaurant that is shared with her husband, The Dining Car, in High River, where she currently lives

She attributes her understanding of the business community to her experiences.

“I became a business owner myself, somehow learning about that incredible grind that small businesses go through,” Smith said. “I’m not sure why it didn’t dissuade me and plunge me into a state of fear.”

Smith also wants the province to return to having a “pro job creation environment.”

“Much of my career has been dedicated to advancing and advocating the interests of entrepreneurs, property owners, and businesses,” Smith said.

“Our goal is to diversify and strengthen Alberta’s economy, ensure Albertans have assistance in paying their bills, and ensure our world-class, frontline health care workers have the support that they need so that Albertans have the best health care that is there for them when they need it.”

Alberta has an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent, 2.6 per cent less than in October. Smith says employment is 4.7 per cent above where it was in February of 2020.

Canada is sitting at 5.2 per cent unemployment.

“Our province has recovered all of the jobs that were lost during the pandemic,” she said.

Future plans for Alberta

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Smith says the Alberta Is Calling Campaign, which is a government initiative that seeks to bring people from around the country to Alberta, is working well, according to Smith.

“I can tell you it’s causing a little bit of tension with the other premiers. They’ve all raised it with me in the calls that I’ve had with them,” Smith said.

“So that says to me that it’s working.”

The province is also going to renew the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, and Smith says she is going to use a combination of lower taxes, affordable housing, and a highly skilled workforce “to continue attracting investment” in various sectors of Alberta’s economy.

One area Smith wants to focus on is the video game and digital media industries in the province, saying that it is a fast-growing “multibillion-dollar industry.”

She wants to make the province the “destination of choice” for those in the industry, whether entrepreneurs or investors.

“Just so that you understand the dual approach is not only reaching out to the world and attracting tech companies here but also making sure that we are technologically advanced in our own delivery of government services, which I think will send a message to the world about investing and diversifying Alberta’s economy,” she said.

Smith also said she is working with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek to expand CTrain lines to the airport and create a rail link between Calgary, Banff, and Canmore. She also announced that Calgary’s Deerfoot Trail is going to receive more improvements.