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Regional Planning & Growth

Two of the roots of the problem are

1. Edmonton's desire and failed attempts to annex suburban areas in the 1970's that did not want to be annexed and were big enough to resist. There is still an underlying suspicion and hostility to the larger city, particularly when it tries to throw its weight around too much, but then there is a lack of leadership when it does not. Iveson seems to have hit the right note between Mandel who pushed to hard and Sohi who seems reluctant to take the lead.

2. Lucrative industrial development just outside of the city boundaries, which also led to #1, but allows some suburban areas to be more financially independent.

I think the suburban areas know deep down that if the region succeeds they will do better to, but that can sometimes get lost in the back and forth due to history and politics. I hope we can get things back on track.
 
The_Cat said:
Strathcona, Leduc, Parkland and Sturgeon Counties have a lot of the industrial growth.
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It seems kind of ironic that Edmonton bodies seem to be focused on attracting that sort of thing ,which benefits more the suburban areas more than the city.

They don't seem very able or focused on say getting white collar jobs for downtown which could be more of a benefit for the city itself.
 
Gronk! said:
edmonton.taproot.news

Edmonton Global exodus extends to Sturgeon County and Fort Saskatchewan

The councils in Sturgeon County and Fort Saskatchewan both voted on Dec. 12 to depart from Edmonton Global, following the same decision by Strathcona County on Nov. 30.
edmonton.taproot.news edmonton.taproot.news
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IanO said:
Curious to see where this trend leads to and how EG responds.
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I have been openly critical on this forum of EG over the past several years for their (lack of) performance and key wins attracting investment to the region and to downtown.

By my count since their 2017 inception, EG can be directly tied to 3 public wins - 1. Polykar (2019), 2. Air Products (2021) and 3. Dow (2023). When I break down those three wins, while big massive investments for the region, Air Products and Dow already operate here and have the ecosystem in place (i.e. feedstocks, existing infrastructure, pipeline networks, distribution networks) drive the investment decision more than EG had a part in them choosing to be here. With that, in my opinion, Polykar is the only company to have selected investing in Edmonton since EG's inception in 2017 that has had no direct tie to the region.

EG has attracted exactly 0 companies and investment in tech, finance, software, aviation, insurance, etc I could go on and has brought exactly 0 investment to downtown Edmonton.

In that same time frame, everyone's favorite city comparison directly south of us has attracted thousands of jobs across a diverse range of industries to both their downtown and the region while operating under the exact same regimes and challenges (same federal and provincial governments, same COVID, same oil prices).

Recently there have been several discussions about frustrations from key leaders in the business community about the mayor, council and certainly the performance of EG and the cracks are starting to form on EG, as noted by the pulling out by the towns noted.

There are some things that are beginning to happen in the business community around supporting candidates for the next election and around EG so I hope those gain momentum because EG's failing is another hurdle that Edmonton continues to fumble while places like Calgary continue to competitively attract jobs and investment.
 
CaptainBL said:
I have been openly critical on this forum of EG over the past several years for their (lack of) performance and key wins attracting investment to the region and to downtown.

By my count since their 2017 inception, EG can be directly tied to 3 public wins - 1. Polykar (2019), 2. Air Products (2021) and 3. Dow (2023). When I break down those three wins, while big massive investments for the region, Air Products and Dow already operate here and have the ecosystem in place (i.e. feedstocks, existing infrastructure, pipeline networks, distribution networks) drive the investment decision more than EG had a part in them choosing to be here. With that, in my opinion, Polykar is the only company to have selected investing in Edmonton since EG's inception in 2017 that has had no direct tie to the region.

EG has attracted exactly 0 companies and investment in tech, finance, software, aviation, insurance, etc I could go on and has brought exactly 0 investment to downtown Edmonton.

In that same time frame, everyone's favorite city comparison directly south of us has attracted thousands of jobs across a diverse range of industries to both their downtown and the region while operating under the exact same regimes and challenges (same federal and provincial governments, same COVID, same oil prices).

Recently there have been several discussions about frustrations from key leaders in the business community about the mayor, council and certainly the performance of EG and the cracks are starting to form on EG, as noted by the pulling out by the towns noted.

There are some things that are beginning to happen in the business community around supporting candidates for the next election and around EG so I hope those gain momentum because EG's failing is another hurdle that Edmonton continues to fumble while places like Calgary continue to competitively attract jobs and investment.
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This has been shown as untrue numerous times. I don't have the energy to repost everything but maybe look back a few pages on this forum.
 
CaptainBL said:
I have been openly critical on this forum of EG over the past several years for their (lack of) performance and key wins attracting investment to the region and to downtown.

By my count since their 2017 inception, EG can be directly tied to 3 public wins - 1. Polykar (2019), 2. Air Products (2021) and 3. Dow (2023). When I break down those three wins, while big massive investments for the region, Air Products and Dow already operate here and have the ecosystem in place (i.e. feedstocks, existing infrastructure, pipeline networks, distribution networks) drive the investment decision more than EG had a part in them choosing to be here. With that, in my opinion, Polykar is the only company to have selected investing in Edmonton since EG's inception in 2017 that has had no direct tie to the region.

EG has attracted exactly 0 companies and investment in tech, finance, software, aviation, insurance, etc I could go on and has brought exactly 0 investment to downtown Edmonton.

In that same time frame, everyone's favorite city comparison directly south of us has attracted thousands of jobs across a diverse range of industries to both their downtown and the region while operating under the exact same regimes and challenges (same federal and provincial governments, same COVID, same oil prices).

Recently there have been several discussions about frustrations from key leaders in the business community about the mayor, council and certainly the performance of EG and the cracks are starting to form on EG, as noted by the pulling out by the towns noted.

There are some things that are beginning to happen in the business community around supporting candidates for the next election and around EG so I hope those gain momentum because EG's failing is another hurdle that Edmonton continues to fumble while places like Calgary continue to competitively attract jobs and investment.
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It is true the current council does not have the interest or business experience to focus on attracting investment and jobs, so I suspect they have not been monitoring the performance of this agency very vigorously.

Suburban areas seem to be leading the questioning about whether we are getting value for the money here and concluding we are not. Perhaps it might now put pressure on Edmonton's council and administration and council to pay more attention to this. If not, there is always the next civic election and this council's lack of interest in business development and experience in this area is a significant vulnerability for them whether they realize this yet or not.
 
Surprise, surprise -- regional municipalities engage in belt tightening in an austerity environment and the blame somehow goes to the City (Council).

It's almost as though the City is one voice amongst many, and that cooperation requires participation from both all sides of the table regardless of whatever 'leadership' the City of Edmonton displays (and is promptly ignored).

I think this Council has seen enough of this bad faith engagement in years past and is looking inwards to improve what they can within the City's borders, as is their mandate. At this point, Edmonton IS a region into itself and can be managed accordingly, the deck is stacked when dealing with the surrounding municipalities and it's therefore not worth the effort.
 
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Gronk! said:
edmonton.taproot.news

Edmonton Global hopes to listen its way to harmony

Edmonton Global is hiring two consultants as it embarks on a roughly six-month "listening tour" to gather concerns from its 14 member municipalities and consider how it might convince those who want to leave to change their minds.
edmonton.taproot.news edmonton.taproot.news
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Perhaps it will help, but I feel it may kind of be like someone whose spouse tells them they want a divorce countering by saying, ok I will listen better now. It may be a bit late for that now.
 
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