Driving Innovation, Diversifying Our Economy
How do we create the conditions for economic prosperity that provide wealth for all Edmontonians? That will be one of the most important considerations for our new City Council as we recover and rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic.
My view on the economy is shaped by my experience supporting Edmonton’s small business community, my involvement in the local startup scene, and my roots in addressing complex social challenges.
As a city, we need to set conditions for our local entrepreneurs to thrive.
As a councillor, I will help create these conditions by focusing on three priorities:
Proactively supporting local businesses
Taking a multi-sectoral approach to attract new economic opportunities to the region
Investing in long-term economic growth driven by local entrepreneurs
We need to proactively support local businesses
Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy. There are about 34,000 businesses in Edmonton. They provide jobs to 500,000+ Edmontonians and contribute to a significant portion of the city’s tax base. With the impacts of COVID-19 still reverberating through our economy, job number one of Edmonton’s new city council will be to ensure local businesses thrive in our city.
One of the most important ways to do this is to ensure the permitting process is simple, fast, and fair. We’ve seen how quickly the city can issue permits when the pressure is on, as was the case this past year when restaurants could easily obtain patio permits. But there’s massive room for improvement in the traditional permitting system. In the words of one of our Deputy City Managers at a recent engagement session with local entrepreneurs, “Edmonton is in fact number two in North America in terms of speed to issue permits—but we have a long way to go to be number one.”
An interesting example that could serve as a case study for potential future business parks in our ward is the Tahoe Reno Industrial Centre in Reno, Nevada. This 200,000 acre property has enticed massive industrial development by guaranteeing building permits in less than 30 days!
We don’t necessarily need these massive projects to create an economic win for Ward Karhiio. Instead, I would like to see incentives for local entrepreneurs to create welcoming small businesses like the priMED Mosaic Centre in Summerside. These types of developments have rippling economic, social, and health impacts for our neighbourhoods and communities.
This is what we must strive for.
We need a multi-sectoral approach to attract economic opportunities to our city
When attracting economic opportunities to our city, we should champion the motto “many are stronger than one.”
Collaboration and multi-sector work is at my very core. For example, to provide some immediate economic relief for local businesses during the pandemic, I facilitated a partnership between ATB Financial and the McConnell Foundation to set up a zero-fee, low-barrier crowdfunding platform for Alberta businesses. This initiative became one of many ongoing business supports at the bank.
It will take much bigger collaborations to win serious economic opportunities for Ward Karhiio. Manufacturing has been a staple of our ward’s economy for decades and will continue to play a significant role for years to come. We may also have opportunities to transform some of our spare manufacturing space into new economic opportunities for our city. For instance, could we transform the Edmonton Research Park into a hub for life sciences research and begin manufacturing vaccines, thereby creating hundreds of high quality jobs? Or could we capitalize on a wave of innovation coming out of our universities and post-secondary institutions to land tech tenants in the ward? Many opportunities exist, but it will take a collaborative approach working with a range of sectors and players to bring them to reality.
We need a long-term strategy to continuously evolve our economy by investing in local entrepreneurs
We need to catalyze private sector investment into our economy.
One of the most successful examples of local Investing I have experienced is Startup TNT, which my husband Zack Storms founded. With the simple motto of ‘Have Fun. Make Friends. Build Companies,’ the organization has raised over $3 million in private investor funding for 18 Alberta startups, trained hundreds of new investors, and catalyzed countless new relationships. We need more of these types of grassroots, people-led economic development projects that have the ability to evolve quickly, make real impact, and mobilize our community in new ways.
Our job as a city government is to help ensure the right conditions are in place to unleash the creativity of Edmontonians, broadcast our story to the world and attract further investment and talent. Imagine what a great cycle this could create, one that reinforces economic resiliency through local creativity and investment.
