Western Retail Lumber Association asked to participate in ‘Made in Alberta’ discussion
The WRLA was asked to participate in a stakeholder engagement discussion hosted by Nate Horner, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development. The discussion was focused on a Made in Alberta, by Albertans labelling program that the Alberta Government is looking to implement to support economic recovery and local businesses by making locally made products more easily identifiable to consumers
The purpose of the discussion was to gather feedback on how to implement the voluntary labelling program and determine the criteria for use of the label. The overall sentiment of the label is positive and there is strong support for this to proceed, however the devil is always in the details and the Alberta Government wants to ensure that this program is rolled out effectively, efficiently, and not onerous for manufacturers, retailers and artisans alike to participate in. Participation would be voluntary to ensure there are no conflicts with trade policies in place.
The key areas of discussion in our session surrounded the administration aspect and gauging which organizational body would be responsible for administration and oversight, along with the criteria and requirements that need to be established to determine participation eligibility in the label.
We have been asked to collect feedback from members as well as encourage members to respond to the stakeholder engagement survey that is open until February 19, 2022. The goal is to have this program launched in the summer of 2022.
This is a great opportunity for WRLA members to be included in the process and to provide feedback from a consumer, manufacturer and retailer perspective. We encourage you to participate in this survey and share with your customers as well. Following are links for other similar programs referenced on the call and links for their websites are included for you to explore should you be interested to do so:
• Ontario Made Program information: https://supportontariomade.ca/en/home
• Buy BC: https://buybc.gov.bc.ca/
• Texas by Texans: https://texasbytexans.com/shop/ Further stakeholder engagement may take place following the initial survey intake which is available here. Survey link: https://www.alberta.ca/made-in-albertaengagement.aspx
If you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to Liz at 204.770.2416 or lkovach@wrla.org