End of the road for Central Alberta Economic Partnership

In a further interview with rdnewsNOW, Barclay shared that prohibitive changes are coming to the funding CAEP gets from the provincial government.

In all, CAEP was to receive $125,000 this year, with 50 per cent allowed to be put toward operations. Last year, according to Barclay, it was 75 per cent for operations, and next year, it’s zero.

“We looked at the future years scenario, and knew how much we needed to raise the per capita amount for membership,” said Barclay. “To be honest, around the board table it got a lot of pushback, so we decided there was really no path forward for CAEP.”

Membership currently costs municipalities 90 cents per capita, which has been the rate for at least three years.

Barclay says for a community of 1,500, that’s not much, but for Red Deer and other bigger municipalities, it’s a different story.

Despite the rise of organizations like Central Alberta First and Red Deer D.R.I.V.E., Barclay doesn’t feel CAEP was becoming redundant, adding that it had its distinct role in the economic development landscape.

She pointed out that while most communities have an economic development officer or team, CAEP always filled that role for some much smaller communities.

She thinks of Trochu and Beiseker as examples of communities that could struggle filling the gap.

“Every municipality is facing extreme budgetary pressures.”

CAEP’s Fall General Meeting, and all other courses and events, will be cancelled. Any registration fees that were paid will be refunded, it was also noted.

CAEP Executive Director Paul Salvatore spoke with rdnewsNOW in September about the launch of a new Team Central Alberta strategy.

Barclay said the inability now to move forward with that initiative, among others, is disappointing.

“One of the initiatives Paul brought on was the economic data dashboard through CityViz, a great platform for municipalities to use for investment attraction and expansion, and doing community profiles. The data was updated automatically from Statistics Canada, and that was available to member municipalities for free,” she said.

“Last year, we completed the Howse Pass feasibility study into today’s numbers and today’s economic environment, and that was a wonderful project.

“There will be gaps given what CAEP has done over 28 years, but maybe something else rises from the ashes that fits today’s environment better.”

by Josh Hall

End of the road for Central Alberta Economic Partnership

What's Trending