Outgoing EEDC president warns of complacency
Businesses told to compete hard and not rely on oil price rebound
Intense international competition will test whether Edmonton becomes a world leader or returns to complacency in the next oil boom, the head of the city’s economic development agency says.
“If you think we can just walk into the next five years thinking the world’s your oyster, thinking we can just sit back and enjoy the ride, you will be gravely disappointed,” Brad Ferguson, outgoing president of the Edmonton Economic Development Corp. (EEDC), said in a speech at the Shaw Conference Centre on Tuesday.
“Growth opportunities will be hard to find and the competition has never been as fierce. Growth will require a level of new risk that will make many existing businesses uncomfortable.”
Ferguson told the EEDC’s annual Impact luncheon he wants local companies to continue diversifying their products and expanding sales outside the province into such growing countries as China, South Korea and India.
Although the city is still recovering from a two-year recession caused by the drop in oil prices, he’s worried the next boom he expects within 12 months will hurt Edmonton’s efforts to modernize the economy.
“Everything we have worked toward has been in a time where we have needed to get our feet under us and focus on the resilience of the economy,” he said in a later news conference.
“If a new oil boom comes in and you hear that giant sucking sound again of labour and costs and things like that … it will really define what Alberta and certainly Edmonton will be as a city.”
Ferguson, who has focused on building a positive Edmonton brand, argued the city should strive for four per cent annual economic growth so it can grab a bigger share of world trade.
Although city chief economist John Rose indicated last week that strong job numbers might lead him to boost his 2018 growth estimate to three per cent from 2.8 per cent, Ferguson said aiming for a higher figure helps create entrepreneurial “hunger” that can drive further success.
“Gaining market share is a mindset. Being the capital city of Alberta is a mindset. Overtaking Calgary to become Canada’s fourth-largest city is a mindset. People want to be part of something that is exciting, that’s growing, that’s winning … that’s rising in the rankings,” he said.
“A four per cent mindset changes the way we do projects, finance projects, and the timelines in which we complete projects, because we need to get those people and that capital freed up to start working on the next project.”
Ferguson, 48, is leaving March 31 from the position he has held since 2012. While he wouldn’t discuss what he plans to do next, he said he’s “absolutely not” interested in entering politics.
Mayor Don Iveson praised his work and said it’s paying dividends in such areas as increased tourism, but agreed a return of the energy industry’s hot times could make it hard for Edmonton firms outside this field to keep workers and control costs.
“What I really worry about is if there is a sharp spike up in commodity prices, if that starts to crowd out our health tech sector, if that starts to crowd out the growth of something like the Google DeepMind lab because we have become too cost uncompetitive and volatile, that would be problematic.”