A new approach to provincial funding threatens economic development in rural Alberta while undermining the premier’s own marching orders, the NDP charged as 2024 wound down.
The shift away from operational money for REDAs — which stands for regional economic development alliances — will strand projects and lead to missed opportunities, said Heather Sweet, opposition critic for agriculture and irrigation.
But the UCP says the move to project-by-project financing will put REDAs on the same footing as economic development groups that succeed without the government’s operational support.
And transitional funding will help REDAs move from “higher government intervention” to a competitive, project-based system, Minister of Infrastructure Peter Guthrie told the legislature Dec. 4
Based on alliance membership size and revenue, up to $125,000 a year is available for each REDA between 2024 and 2027 to ease the transition, he said.
The change will allow REDAs to “become more efficient and independent to better serve our communities,” added Guthrie, the member for Airdrie-Cochrane.
Dedicated to economic growth, diversification and sustainability, REDAs came into being in the early 2000s as partnerships of municipalities, businesses and community groups.
Among the nine REDAs operating today is the Battle River Alliance for Economic Development in east central Alberta, which encourages residents to shop locally and businesses and individuals to choose its communities to invest and live in. BRAED’s third annual Agriculture Industry Forum in March focused on drought resilience, artificial intelligence, agricultural research, global markets and more.
The Peace River alliance in the northwest hosted a value-added forestry conference in June that expanded the usual narrative from multinationals and two-by-fours to medicinals and craft carpentry.
And in southern Alberta, a tourism project supported by the SouthGrow Regional Initiative blossomed into $321,000 to expand offerings like food, brewery and resource tours.
Sweet, the member for Edmonton-Manning, said REDAs “play an essential role in the rural communities of this province.” The new model amounts to defunding that will have “a devastating impact,” she said.
The shadow cabinet minister called out the UCP for going against its own assertions of REDA support. Even a mandate letter from the premier to the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Trade “explicitly demands collaboration with REDAs,” she said.
Ric McIver, the municipal affairs minister, said the government continues to support municipalities through things like a 13 per cent increase in infrastructure funding and a new, $20-million-a-year package for three years for sustainability and economic expansion.
“We have always been there with municipalities,” said McIver, the member for Calgary-Hays.
