By Troy Gillard

Getting people working

City of Red Deer begins looking at path to economic recovery

Apr 15, 2020 | 2:06 PM

As Red Deer struggles with double digit unemployment, city officials say they are looking at ways to get people back to work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest numbers released last week show Red Deer’s unemployment rate for March surpassed 10 per cent and is the highest in the province. Premier Jason Kenney has suggested Alberta’s jobless rate could reach 25 per cent as a result of the pandemic.

Mayor Tara Veer says that after first focusing on virus mitigation then short-term economic relief for households and businesses, the city has started looking further down the road.

“Some of council’s deliberations today started to focus on economic recovery,” Veer said Tuesday. “Administration is drafting options for council to consider in the future. But in terms of there being a finalized or solidified plan, that hasn’t come to council yet. But it will in the very near future.”

One thing Veer says the city is looking into is what capital projects might be eligible for provincial and federal economic stimulus funding.

Prevention, Access, Recovery, and Coordination

Safe Harbour officially hands over shelter keys, establishes accessible navigation hub

11h ago

lacombe and sylvan lake

December 2025 (un)employment data released for Alberta sub-regions

13h ago

21 years with WCPS

Darcy Blum appointed principal of Lacombe Outreach School

14h ago

“City staff are looking at the approved capital budget, as well as the capital plan, to see which projects meet the criteria that the provincial government has outlined because, potentially, we may be able to leverage new provincial dollars for projects that we otherwise hadn’t contemplated for 2020,” she explained, adding they hope to have answers from both levels of government in the next couple of weeks.

“Infrastructure projects will be a very important part of our economic recovery,” she stressed.

Another option for getting some people back to work, Veer suggested, is by doing maintenance on Red Deer’s recreation facilities that remain closed through June 30.

“We believe in looking after the assets that we have, provided that it is safely done for those employees, contractors and vendors,” she cautioned. “It will serve the public interest. Instead of, for example, having to shut down a recreation facility in the fall for maintenance, perhaps some of that work can transpire during this downtime.”

Veer says the city is also in the early stages of looking at incentive options to help kick start new development in Red Deer.

“We don’t have all the answers yet, but we are looking ahead to that because we know this is our new normal for the next couple of months. Certainly when we come out of it we want to be able to hit the ground running and to be able to stimulate our local economy.”

Whatever The City of Red Deer does to stimulate job creation, they say it’ll be done with people’s safety top of mind.

“Our hope is that we continue to move projects forward, but we will only do so working with our contractors and vendors if we know that the health and safety of workers and our residents can be respected in those locations,” stresses Karen Mann, Red Deer’s Emergency Management Director.

“If the safety of the job site can be respected and ensured then essential work in construction can occur.”