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Nally, Allard discuss Alberta's future at Chamber roundtable

Wednesday's Chamber roundtable looked at ways the province is combating several hits to its economy.
Nally Dale
Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally is Alberta's associate minister of natural gas and electricity.

Alberta's new Minister of Municipal Affairs Tracy Allard says the UCP government has a responsibility to provide future generations with a way to pay back the province's debt.

Allard made the comment Wednesday during a Chamber-hosted roundtable with Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally, who is also the associate minister of natural gas and electricity for the province. The duo spoke about ways the government is helping municipalities and businesses get through the dark economic times the province is currently experiencing.

“I understand we may leave future generations with debt as a result of this terrible time we are in, but I think we have a responsibility to leave not only the debt but some critical infrastructure that future generations can leverage to pay back that debt," Allard said.

Allard was given the Municipal Affairs portfolio on Aug. 25. She reminded the attendees of the difficult situation the province finds itself in, which she described as "some of the toughest times since the '30s."

"The global price of energy has collapsed; we’ve hit the biggest economic contraction in nearly a century and now we’re trying to find our way through a pandemic,” said Allard.

The province currently has a $24-billion hole in its budget. In response, the Alberta government created the Alberta Recovery Plan and through this plan has been looking at ways to increase investments and put money into infrastructure.

“In government, we’re often talking about ways to improve Alberta’s economy - we talk about (tools) we can use to increase jobs and to attract investment and to build a more vibrant province going forward. That’s important, but it’s also great to be able to connect with the people at the heart of that economy,” said Allard.

Allard said part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan involves spending half a billion dollars on municipal stimulus, cutting red tape and reviewing the municipal government act.

St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said aligning provincial and municipal goals has been important work. The money the province has given to St. Albert so far has gone directly to creating jobs, she said.

“We got some municipal stimulus funding from the province ... we’re putting a good chunk of that money into infrastructure to service a piece of land that will not only create short-term construction jobs that are important but over 300 long-term industrial jobs,” she said, referencing a servicing project for rec-centre lands on the west side of Ray Gibbon Drive, which would also help bring economic growth to the Lakeview Business District.

Other parts of the recovery plan include the Invest Alberta strategy, which is the new Ministry of Jobs Economy and Innovation. This ministry is starting a Crown corporation called Invest Alberta, the purpose of which is to draw investment to Alberta.

Nally said the province's recently announced Natural Gas Vision and Strategy is a significant part of Alberta's recovery plan. This strategy looks at ways to increase Alberta’s global involvement in LNG, hydrogen, petrochemical and the circular economy of plastics.

Part of Nally’s strategy is the Petrochemical Incentive Program. The details of this program have not been finalized, but Nally said, “If you build the facility, you will get the grant. It’s that simple.

“Our goal and vision is that Alberta is going to become a world-class destination for petrochemical facilities,” he added.

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