The Municipal District of Bonnyville has developed a new economic development website. The new website is focused on business growth and investment attraction. InvestMDBonnyville.com will provide information to support business development as well as data crucial to site selectors and real estate advisors as they search for a home for their client’s new business or business expansion.
The new site contains a Community Economic Development Dashboard highlighting the M.D.’s demographic profile, labour profile, real estate, business environment, transportation, education, utilities, and taxation to support business growth and residential relocation.
The new website also includes sector profiles which provide information on the region’s top industries. The profiles supply key details such as major employers, production numbers, available training, and industry forecasts. There is information about lifestyle, highlighting the M.D.’s quality of life.
M.D. of Bonnyville hosts SiteLink 2024
From September 18 to 20, 2024, the Municipal District of Bonnyville will host Sitelink Forum 2024 - a premier boutique event focused on investment attraction for site selectors, economic development professionals, Realtors, developers, engineers, utility companies, and other service providers.
This three-day event provides, training, networking, best practices, and emerging trends for investment attraction.
The forum will feature site selection professionals from across North America including Paige Webster, president of Webster Global Site Selectors of Phoenix, AZ.
Mr. Webster has worked on many projects in various industry sectors including aerospace, agri-business, bio tech, geothermal, wind and solar, warehouse/distribution, data centres, the retail sector, back office, and high-tech. Mr. Webster has been working in site selection and economic development for 20 years.
Mr. Webster will be accompanied by David Gaines, the Managing Director of Goldstone Consulting Group, Michael T. Edgar CEO of SelectGlobal, and Rob O’Brian founder and principal of O’Brian and Associates, LLC. They will be joined by a variety of investment location advisors.
The group will share their knowledge of industrial real estate, business relocation, creating meaningful economic development opportunities, bringing together investors, governments, workforce assessment, and business park feasibility studies.
SiteLink Forum 2024 is great for sharing knowledge and is an excellent venue to provide direct exposure to M.D. business culture and investment opportunities.
The forum will be held at the Best Western Inn located in Cold Lake.
The registration deadline is September 4, 2024. You can register online at bit.ly/SiteLink2024
Northern and Regional Economic Development Grant
INVESTMENT ATTRACTION ACTION PLAN
The M.D. of Bonnyville has received a Northern Regional Economic Development (NRED) grant from the Government of Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Economy, and Trade for an Investment Attraction Action Plan (IAAP). The plan is one of the foundational activities identified in the M.D.’s Business and Industry Growth Strategy.
The purpose of the IAAP is to provide analysis, strategy, and tools required to attract desired and complementary investment to the M.D.
The grant application identified three key components:
1) Airport Development Economic Impact Assessment
2) Regional Industrial Commercial Gap Analysis; and 3) Site Selector Training and Tour.
The goals of the IAAP are increased investment, stronger revenue base, increased employment opportunities, and the development of clusters and value chains which will diversify and strengthen the local economy.
Over the next two years, the IAAP will ask the following questions: Where are we now?
Where do we want to be?
• How do we get there?
Through the IAAP, the M.D. will:
• Undertake a gap analysis
Identify future investment ready sites
Identify the community’s competitive advantage
Analyze and develop target industry list
• Identify investment attraction objectives
• Identify potential policies and procedures that support investment attraction
Determine investment attraction tactics.
Building a viable and diversified regional economy is the first goal of the M.D. of Bonnyville’s Council 2022-2027 Strategic Plan.
Business Visitation Program update
The Municipal District of Bonnyville (M.D.) started an ongoing business visitation program in 2023.
Over the past year, more than 35 business visits have been completed.
Business visits connected the M.D.’s Economic Development Specialist with a range of industry sectors including, oilfield servicing, engineering, disaster recovery, industrial construction, fabrication, electrical, equipment rentals, industrial insulation, greenhouses, automotive and heavy-duty mechanical, sand and gravel, landscaping, retail, well servicing, waste management, and agriculture services.
These visits identified years in operation, employment numbers and patterns, North American Industry Classification Codes, goods manufactured, exporting, business expansion and contraction, supply chain issues, human resources, succession planning, and the positive and negative aspects of operating a business in M.D.
This program creates an opportunity to learn about local business culture and identify the strength and capacity of businesses located in the M.D. Identifying hurdles, challenges, trends, and opportunities facing local businesses helps in the creation of Economic Development programming to support the local business community.
Information gathered during a business visit provides data and market intelligence to help our community attract new companies and foster the creation of new businesses within the M.D. The data also helps the local economy with supply chain issues and lead generation to connect M.D. businesses with growth opportunities. It also supports business operators with site selection and pathfinding for project-specific planning and permitting, grants, and investor connections.
The information collected during business visits increases competitiveness in the wider marketplace by identifying import and export activities. This information, when shared, helps support agencies such as Invest Alberta and Invest in Canada market opportunities in the M.D.
The majority of M.D. businesses visited to date indicated they have fewer than 20 employees, believe they have a businessfriendly local government, the current state of their business is steady to improving vs. declining, the business climate in the M.D. is stable or growing vs. declining, and that finding qualified labour is an issue.
Knowing the M.D. business culture helps with retaining or increasing local jobs, preserving or increasing the local tax base, increasing local property values, enhancing the image and confidence level of the M.D. business community as a place to invest, and maintaining or diversifying the economic base.
For full details, see the next issue of Growing Your Business
Manufacturing and exporting
On March 12, 2024, the M.D. of Bonnyville hosted a Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) roundtable meeting to discuss barriers to manufacturing in rural Alberta.
The audience was made up of regional manufacturers and some exporters. The group provided feedback to CME staff as part of what will eventually be “Manufacturing Alberta’s Future: A Plan to Drive Investment, Create Jobs, and Grow Exports” report. The report includes input from Alberta manufacturing executives and roundtable guests and will be presented to both provincial and federal governments.
The report suggests a pathway to bring Alberta manufacturers into the future, based on five major themes:
• supporting rural manufacturing
• expanding and skill updates for Alberta’s manufacturing workforce stimulating investment for Alberta’s manufacturers market access for Alberta manufacturers
• reducing regulatory and tax burdens for Alberta manufacturers.
You can read CME’s report, Manufacturing Alberta’s Future, at cme-mec.ca
M.D. of Bonnyville Community Economic Development Dashboard
The new Community Economic Development Dashboard plays a key role in supporting business development and relocation.
The M.D.’s demographic profile supplies population, gender, age, marital status, household size, and income data. The labour profile supplies employment rates, participation rates, worker class, and labour force by occupation and industry data. Real estate data includes dwelling counts, housing type, housing price, housing starts, home ownership, building permits, and housing stock. The business environment profile provides business counts by industry sector and size, while the education data provides major field of study and level attained, to support business growth and residential relocation.
Find it online now at townfolio.co/ab/bonnyville-no-87/overview
Business Support Partners
Below, you will find links to business support agencies available to local companies and descriptions of the programs and services they offer including workshops and seminars.
PRAIRIES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CANADA
Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) diversifies the economy across the Canadian Prairies supporting community economic development across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
TOURISM GROWTH PROGRAM
The Tourism Growth Program provides $108 million over three years to support Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, small and medium-sized businesses, and not-for-profit organizations in developing local tourism products and experiences. The program also complements other federal, provincial, and territorial supports for the tourism industry.
Priority may be given to projects that increase tourism benefits for communities by driving visitation from urban centres to rural areas, support active outdoor experiences, extend the tourism season, complement supports provided through provincial/territorial programs, and support economic, environmental, and cultural sustainability.
canada.ca/en/prairies-economic-development.html
COMMUNITY FUTURES LAKELAND
Community Futures Lakeland (CFL) provides training, guidance, and financial support for small business owners.
CFL offers a wide selection of business coaching and training services. It also has flexible business loans for small start-up businesses that need help getting their ideas of the ground.
CFL is proud to support the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities program, a local business Beautification Loan, the Digital Squad which assists small businesses with ecommerce, and Lemonade Day which teaches youth to start and operate their own business.
lakeland.albertacf.com
BUSINESS LINK
Supporting Alberta small businesses offering free oneon-one business advice, market research, business plan reviews, workshops and presentations, Indigenous services, immigrant entrepreneur services, and access to free small business resource tools.
businesslink.ca
ALBERTA INNOVATES
Alberta Innovates helps Alberta entrepreneurs and industry.
The focus is on applied research, agriculture forestry and food, clean resources, emerging technologies, entrepreneurial investments, health innovation and platforms, and post-secondary investments.
Alberta Innovates supports advanced hydrocarbons projects and agri-food innovation.
Alberta Innovates supports Regional Innovation Networks across the province. In East Central Alberta, visit the Start Up Lloydminster Regional Innovation Network at eastcentralrin.com
albertainnovates.ca
ALBERTA WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Alberta Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) builds capacity and helps entrepreneurial women build connections with other entrepreneurs and experts with seminars, events, training sessions, and conferences.
AWE has four core programs — Start Up, Bold Leadership, Business Beyond Borders, and Strengthening Partnerships.
AWE also has several loan programs including the Growth Loan and the Capital Growth Loan Initiative.
AWE provides free advising services to women entrepreneurs in Alberta. An AWE Business Advisor can help with your business strategy, delivery model, and how to manage cash flow.
awebusiness.com
AFSC
Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) offers a variety of loans for primary agricultural producers.
AFSC finances the purchase of land and equipment, production quotas, succession planning, breeding livestock, working capital, debt reduction, and more by offering long-term competitive interest rates, no annual fees, and payment schedule to fit cash flow.
Loan programs include The Next Generation Loan Program for young producers, The Developing Producer, and The Alberta Producer Loan Program to acquire assets needed to maintain and grow operations.
afsc.ca
FARM CREDIT CANADA (FCC)
FCC supports entrepreneurs and believes in the future of agriculture and food as a champion of the industry and is the only lender 100% invested in Canadian agriculture and food.
FCC lends money and provides other services to agribusinesses that provide inputs or add value to agriculture. If your business is looking to grow or expand, FCC can help you find new opportunities through their networks and financing expertise.
FCC provides the following types of financing — real property, equipment and inventory, expansion, and construction, start-up, diversification, stretch debt and cash flow requirements, mergers and acquisitions, syndicated lending, and venture capital.
fcc-fac.ca/en/financing/agriculture
Bonnyville And District Chamber of Commerce
The Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce exists to help businesses flourish in the Bonnyville region and is the voice of business in the area.
The Chamber provides value to the community and its membership through advocacy, support, and promotion.
bonnyvillechamber.com
COLD LAKE REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Cold Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce is an advocacy agency first. The chamber works to grow relationships with all levels of government to strengthen the voice of local business owners.
The Cold Lake Chamber believes a strong local economy starts with a well-connected business community. Members have access to exclusive workshops, webinars, programs, and seminars. Events are affordable and useful. Learn more about social media, SEO, video marketing, and countless other start-up focused topics.
The Chamber offers businesses access to Canada’s number one group benefit plans for business. The Chamber of Commerce Group Insurance Plan administered through BPGS protects you and your team and gives your business a competitive edge when looking to hire the best people.
coldlakechamber.ca
FUTURPRENEUR
Futurpreneur is the only national, non-profit organization that provides financing, mentoring, and support tools to aspiring business owners ages 18 to 39.
Futurpreneur makes it easier for aspiring young business owners to secure financing as they have partnered with BDC to extend its support from $20,000 to $60,000 with $40,000 of BDC funding.
Futurpreneur and RBC Future present Rock My Business, a free virtual three-part workshop series that will help you develop your idea, get started on your business plan, and create a viable cashflow for your business.
You could win $10,000 to help launch your start-up!
futurpreneur.ca
Travel Alberta supports the tourism sector via the Travel Alberta Industry Hub, providing operators with information regarding programs and tools, training and events, visitor and marketing insights, and news and media.
Travel Alberta’s Learning Portal is a resource that connects tourism businesses with insights, expertise, and best practices such as a brand tool kit and research and business solutions to help guide marketing and business activities.
Travel Alberta supports tourism development through the Sign-Up Alberta program, the Export Ready Checklist, and the Product Development and Cooperative Investment Fund. There are three grant streams.
Travel Alberta supports operators by providing Visitor Profiles which identifies visitor origin, length of stay, trip purpose, accommodation, and spending in Alberta.
industry.travelalberta.com
TRAVEL ALBERTA
Facts & figures
2023 M.D. DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS
Q1 $1,885,500
Q2 $6,095,300
Q3 $6,355,029
Q4 $2,815,239
2023 Total $17,151,068
BUILDING PERMIT CATEGORY
Agriculture 1
Commercial 6
Industrial 6
Recreational 14
Residential 116
Institutional 1
2023 Total 144
CANADIAN SMALL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE INCREASING
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business produces a small business barometer. The monthly barometer surveys and tracks small business confidence, expectations, and operating conditions in Canada.
April 2024 results
12-month Small Business Confidence Index 47.5 Change -5.4 Canada
3-month Small Business Confidence Index 47 Change -5.4 Canada
12-month Small Business Confidence Index 47.5 Change +2.4 Alberta
3-month Small Business Confidence Index 47 Change +0.6 Alberta
SECTOR OVERVIEW
Modest gains were reported by manufacturing (+1.9%) and professional services (2%) with losses by health and education (-5.5%) and agriculture (-3.9%).
Read the full Monthly Business Barometer at cfib-fcei.ca
