Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.

Oil and Gas Business Expo comes to Rocky Mtn. House

Nov 3, 2017 | 11:26 AM

The Rocky Chamber of Commerce and the West Central Stakeholders partnered up to bring the first ever Oil and Gas Business Expo to Rocky Mountain House Thursday.

Over a dozen vendors from the community and across Alberta were in attendance. The expo was geared to highlight the oil and gas industry activity in the area.

Facilitator for the West Central Stakeholders Rick Anderson, says being able to put together this collaborative event shows how well everyone works together. 

“I think more awareness and appreciation for each other within the community and the respective roles that we play whether we are directly involved in a business or in the industry or whether we are part of the community and the service of the community.”

Parliamentary Secretary of Economic Development and Trade, Jessica Littlewood, was also in attendance to give a speech on the initiatives that the Alberta Government is currently doing. 

Mayor Tammy Burke says this was a fantastic way to bring all the stakeholders together because oil and gas plays an important role in our community. 

“There aren’t many businesses in this community that aren’t affected some way by the industry. There have been significant changes to the landscape over the last few years, some oil companies have grown and diversified their operations to ride out the economic downturn while others have been forced to close their business or move away from our community so now we need to get all hands on board and get everybody working together.” 

Without the West Central Stakeholders, Executive Director for the Rocky Chamber of Commerce Prab Lashar, says bringing in the big oil and gas companies wouldn’t be possible.

“We brought together the local oil and gas companies, so together we are better and together we are stronger. The Chamber wants to go in a new direction with partnerships, be more vocal, and represent more industries and put ourselves on the map and make a lot of noise.”