Medicine Hat-led effort to bolster regional economy gets underway

“Jobs would definitely be an ultimate end goal when we can build our current industry and then also attract new (industry),” McLean-Moore told CHAT News.

Cypress County, County of Forty Mile, Town of Bow Island, neighbour Redcliff and the Village of Foremost have all signed on to the strategy.

The plan’s action items aim to support three industries — aerospace and defence, agriculture and agri-food and regional tourism — as well as develop and attract talent and collaborate on advocacy efforts.

McLean-Moore said she’ll start by focusing on investment attraction strategies for the defense and aerospace and agri-food sectors.

Another top priority for McLean-Moore is preparing communities to attract investment in a way that helps existing companies already operating in the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to place tariffs on Canadian goods are included as a variable as officials move ahead with the strategy.

“We may be investigating what jurisdictions are the best places to go, given the fact that with the economic instability in our relationships with the States,” MacLean-Moore said.

Selena MacLean-Moore says the economic plan aims to bring more jobs to the southeast Alberta region. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

Trump on Monday decided to hit pause on hitting Canada with 25 per cent tarrifs on most goods and 10 per cent levies on Canadian energy imports to give the two countries time to work out an economic deal.

The president hasn’t pulled the idea of placing economically-damaging levies on Canada completely off the table.

Council in 2023 gave the city’s newly-refreshed Medicine Hat Economic Development division a mandate to create the regional strategy.

“One of the first marching orders I had was to enter into a partnership with five other municipalities in the region to be able to look at what we can accomplish together,” McLean-Moore said.

Her department worked with the Deloitte consultant firm and the other six municipalities to draw up the plan.

One of the action items include duplicating and re-branding the city’s “Move to Medicine Hat” campaign oin a regional scale to provide potential workers, investors and business owners with useful information.

The strategic plan to bolster the region’s economy includes 17 action items. Graphic/City of Medicine Hat

The plan calls for supporting recruitment efforts in “high-priority sectors” with online outreach and increasing awareness of the essential skills needed for entry-level employees in aerospace, agriculture and tourism.

The region should also establish an “advanced aviation innovation centre of excellence”, create a “collaborative protein processing project supported by a Protein Supercluster investment” and elevate the region’s travel offerings.

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat-led effort to bolster regional economy gets underway

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