By Brody Langager

looking ahead

Chamber panel looks at current state and future of Alberta’s economy

Mar 4, 2021 | 4:49 PM

The future of Alberta’s economy was the topic of a virtual panel hosted Thursday by the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce.

J. Angus Watt, the Managing Director of Angus Watt Advisory Group and National Bank Financial Wealth Management, Todd Hirsch, Vice President and Chief Economist at ATB Financial, and Alberta’s Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Doug Schweitzer all spoke about the current state of the economy and what they predict for the future.

Watt’s presentation, entitled Time to Reboot, touched on how interest rates are low, and how he expects short-term rates to remain that way for a while. Watt also noted low mortgage rates, but said they can’t stay low forever, so Albertans need to start thinking about how to reboot the province.

“We need to understand the benefits of what we have. We have to understand that we need to reboot ourselves, in our community and ourselves, and we need to support Alberta,” he said.

“And I’m not talking about the Alberta Government, we need to support our province the way we did when I first moved here 40 some years ago. You couldn’t tell an Albertan ‘no’ for any reason at all. So what I want to leave you with is this, in your personal lives, in your business, in Red Deer, in Alberta, let’s focus on getting ourselves rebooted and get the adrenaline pumping.”

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Hirsch compared the economy to a four-layer sponge cake, saying, “Often when we think about that term, the economy, we think about one specific layer of this cake. But I want to suggest, in fact, there are four distinct layers to the cake, and they are all equally important. And when we think about the stability of our economy, it’s just like the stability of this layer cake. We need to ensure that all layers of that economy are in good shape.”

Hirsch said the top layer is the market economy, or the private sector, and the one most people focus on. The second layer is the non-market economy, or the public/government sector. The third is the social economy, or the community sector, and the final layer is the natural environment/planet.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere if we argue and debate about which level is most important, because every single level of that economic cake is equally important,” said Hirsch.

Hirsch noted that everything near the bottom of the economic cake is vital for all other layers to flourish.

“The Amazon river in Brazil does not need amazon.com to be healthy and in good shape, but amazon.com certainly needs the Amazon river, or maybe more broadly, a healthy planet for amazon.com to operate. So there is a distinct order of foundation.”

Hirsch also gave a forecast for the 2021 economy, saying that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will dictate much, but growth will resume along with it. He also mentioned that jobless rates will likely remain high, but the energy sector may stabilize, and suggested that other sectors like technology, agri-foods and renewable energy will help bring the economy back to what it was.

Schweitzer mentioned some of the growth and diversification happening across Alberta, like the drone technology being utilized at Olds College for their agriculture programs, tech giants like Infosys creating 500 jobs in Calgary, and a boost in the film and television industry due to a tax restructuring.

Schweitzer said the Alberta Government has three pillars to try and boost Alberta’s economy and make it an attractive market. One pillar is having the lowest taxes possible, the second is having an efficient government, and the third is making sure Alberta is producing talent for the jobs that are needed.