Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Nate Horner and Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Brian Jean (photo courtesy Alberta.ca)

By Erika Rolling

Politics

Province allocates $1.5 billion over five years to build rural Alberta economy

Dec 14, 2022 | 11:36 AM

After consulting and engaging rural Albertans, businesses, and Indigenous communities over the span of a year, the province has set out the framework for a new Economic Development in Rural Alberta Plan.

There are five key focuses in the plan that will see the Alberta government spend money on initiatives in rural areas over the five years.

Details included in the plan are:

• Economic development-enabling infrastructure
• Rural business supports and entrepreneurship
• Support for labour force and skills development
• Marketing and promoting rural tourism
• Rural economic development capacity building

Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Nate Horner says “Rural Alberta continues to drive economic growth with 41 per cent of the public and private investment in the province and 26 per cent of the provincial GDP.”

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Horner adds we have yet to see the full potential of rural communities.

“I’m excited to implement our plan and vision for the future, for a stronger and prosperous rural Alberta.”

Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Brian Jean agreed with Horner’s goal to grow rural communities and help them reach their full potential.

Jean says all nine of the regional economic development alliances across the province will be getting $125,000 each to support long-term economic development.

“Providing this additional support will help REDAs continue their important work of enabling municipalities and partners to work together on projects that fuel economic growth across Alberta,” Jean says.

Jean mentioned the support from the province will help the eight REDAs collaborate on projects, “that will make Alberta a better place to live.”

The plan focuses on five key strategic directions:

• Identifying and improving economic development-enabling infrastructure to support investment and growth in rural Alberta.
• Advancing entrepreneurship capacity and a culture of innovation across rural Alberta.
• Enabling skills development in rural communities to enhance workforce capacity today and for the future.
• Enhancing rural Alberta’s reputation and capacity as a diverse tourism destination.
• Enhancing rural economic development through regional and targeted capacity building.

A number of initiatives invested in across rural Alberta will be:

• Up to $390 million over four years for the Alberta Broadband Strategy
• Almost $933 million for irrigation infrastructure in partnership with nine irrigation districts to expand and modernize Alberta’s irrigation infrastructure
• $78 million to fund 133 active capital maintenance and renewal projects in rural Alberta communities
• $59-million investment to expand veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary, doubling the number of seats in the program to address a critical shortage of large animal veterinarians in rural Alberta
• $70 million for the Film and Television Tax Credit to attract major productions to Alberta
• Over $8 million through the Indigenous Opportunities Corporation to support Indigenous community’s participation in commercially viable resource projects to support rural economic growth