How Edmonton’s regional economic group avoided losing a sixth city

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Regional economic development group Edmonton Global will not lose another municipality after St. Albert city council voted to stay.

St. Albert is the third-largest municipality in the group. With Strathcona County already planning to leave, the departures of the second- and third-largest members in the capital region could have signalled an end to this agency and another blow to collaboration in the region.

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But St. Albert city council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to stay — the second time the option to leave was put to a vote. There’s hope the organization will improve and a belief the region, and St. Albert, will benefit when they work together.

Trouble at Edmonton Global

Launched in 2018 to promote Edmonton’s metropolitan region to a global audience, the organization stands to lose 40 per cent of its original 15 members by late 2025.

Bon Accord left shortly after the group formed. Five municipalities are on their way out.

Strathcona County, Fort Saskatchewan, Sturgeon County, Parkland County, and Devon signalled intentions to leave in the last year. All filed two-year exit notices that will take effect by late 2025 unless decisions are reversed.

Annette Trimbee, MacEwan University president who sits on Edmonton Global’s board, urged St. Albert to stay and work together. Leaving the organization — and even signalling it could happen — could damage Edmonton’s reputation, she said.

“When municipalities send the message they might withdraw, it sends a message of instability, suggesting the region lacks a unified approach,” she said.

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That is not the message Mayor Cathy Heron wants to send. She voted to stay in Edmonton Global, saying it’s the best thing for St. Albert and the region.

“I really want to signal to the world that we are all in with Edmonton Global and that we are unified,” she told Postmedia after the meeting.

Edmonton pulling out of the regional transit plan in 2022 struck the final death blow to that plan. That decision has “done more harm” to trust among municipalities “than they will ever realize,” Heron said.

She doesn’t want the same thing to happen with the economic development group.

“It did hurt, and I don’t want Edmonton Global to be another pinch point for that mistrust and resentment among us because we really need to work together.”

St. Albert’s membership fee was just under $24,000 in 2018, a council report states. Its fee this year is $240,000, and, according to Coun. Natalie Joly, who made the exit motion, the contribution will be close to $300,000 next year.

The City of Edmonton’s membership is nearly $3.3 million annually.

Potential exits a ‘wakeup call’

Edmonton Global CEO Malcolm Bruce sees Tuesday’s outcome as a vote of confidence in the work they are doing. “What we are trying to do is promote the Edmonton region on a very competitive global stage. There was a lot of recognition that we’re better together.”

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Edmonton Global claims success for 47 investments in the region, bringing in a $4.8-billion investment in energy and clean technology, health and life sciences, artificial intelligence and technology, and food and agriculture since the group was formed in 2018.

But Bruce knows there are challenges to overcome.

Exit notices were “a wakeup call” for Bruce, but he said Edmonton Global is getting back on track. The group has been touring the municipalities in the last six months to hear feedback.

“I think we’re making the corrections in the trust, transparency, and communication that they wanted from us. They’re not all fully implemented but still have some work to do,” Bruce told Postmedia.

A breakdown in communications, questions about a return on investment, and a lack of local autonomy were discovered in a third-party governance review.

Strathcona County, the second-largest municipality in Edmonton Global, voted to leave in December. In March, the county’s mayor was still questioning its involvement despite acknowledging there has been good work in marketing a “regional brand.”

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New business park needs investors

It was the question of value to the county that stuck with some members of that council. The same question was in some councillors’ minds at St. Albert city hall.

St. Albert hasn’t had any direct investment due to Edmonton Global.

Coun. Sheena Hughes was one of two who voted in favour of giving the two-year exit notice.

“We have been in communication and talks, but we haven’t necessarily seen the results on the ground,” she told Postmedia after the vote.

Heron said now is not the time to give up.

She said they didn’t get any industrial investment because there wasn’t anywhere to put it.

St. Albert is in the final stages of launching the new Lakeview Business District, a 250-hectare swath of land for industrial and other business development. Heron thinks Edmonton Global will play a key role in bringing investors.

“We are finally, after many years, bringing in our next business park … and now we need to attract businesses to it,” she told Postmedia. “Yes, we could probably do some small-scale marketing and attraction, but Edmonton Global will have the bigger ability to market internationally.”

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The new business park was also top of mind for Coun. Ken MacKay.

“It just doesn’t make any sense to me that we open up a large business park and then we basically cut off one of our arms,” he said during the meeting.

“We have now opened up a large part of the west end of our community as a business park, and we know that we’ve already generated interest in that park … and it’s partly due to the efforts of Edmonton Global.

For Hughes, it was the potential that St. Albert might need to pay even more in annual dues if more members leave that pushed her to support the exit, noting there would always be the option to reverse it later. “We don’t want to box St. Albert into a situation where there’s no other options to get out of it.”

Stronger together

The message that everyone benefits when they advocate together is the one that resonated with more on St. Albert’s council.

Heron recently accompanied Edmonton Global on a trade mission to Ottawa where they met with representatives from South Korea and the United Arab Emirates to talk about investing in the region — the first time she’s been on such a trip since she became mayor in 2017.

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“We need to hunt as a pack,” she said. “What’s good for one community in the region is good for the whole region.”

Approaching investors is easier when they come forward as a unified region, Trimbee told council.

“Alone, St. Albert would struggle to attract this scale of investment, and this is the type of investment St. Albert needs,” she said. “I really hope you see the benefits of being part of us because when others in the region win, we all win.”

— with files from Linsday Morey

[email protected]

@laurby

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