The Opposition NDP wants to create a special incentive program for companies to build or expand food processing facilities in Alberta.
Lisa Johnson -Edmonton Journal
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks at a news conference outside Calgary city hall on June 1, 2022.
In the party’s latest platform proposal released Tuesday , it promises, if elected, to offer either loan guarantees, grants, or tax credits that would be decided by a newly created task force.
Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference in Calgary the plan represents a different approach than when the NDP was elected to government in 2015.
“One of our bigger mistakes was we didn’t take enough time to listen and consult with families, residents, business owners across rural Alberta, so I’m determined to do a better job,” Notley said, adding the proposal will require more consultations.
While in government, the NDP sparked an outcry in rural Alberta by bringing in a bill that changed labour rules for farmers.
The price tag for the plan will come as it develops, Notley said, adding the UCP’s eight per cent corporate tax rate doesn’t necessarily help agri-food entrepreneurs, and a targeted investment that competes with programs in Saskatchewan and Manitoba will cost less and have a better return.
It comes after the UCP announced last week it had exceeded its own targets by attracting almost $1.5 billion in new investment and creating about 3,000 jobs for Albertans since 2019. The government has highlighted several recent projects, including a planned $72-million INCA Renewtech hemp factory in Vegreville, and a $225-million Phyto Organix Foods Inc. pea processing facility in Strathmore.
Mackenzie Blyth, press secretary to Agriculture Forestry and Rural Economic Development Minister Nate Horner, said in a Tuesday email to Postmedia the ministry is also actively working on around 100 additional projects, with the potential of facilitating $5 billion more in investment.
“It’s great to see the NDP has been following our lead and are looking at programs that we are already working on,” he said.
In its June Define the Decade report , the Business Council of Alberta highlighted the importance of expanding value-added processing, like making potato chips from potatoes, and creating an agri-food program modelled after the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP), which offers government grants of up to 12 per cent of petrochemical project capital costs.
Team Alberta, a group of eight crop commissions, last month called for the UCP government to do more to help attract commercial agri-food value-added processors to Alberta, noting that large investments are landing in other jurisdictions instead.
Blyth said the department has heard concerns about competitiveness and will take a close look before developing the next provincial budget. He noted Alberta’s approach combines several grant programs and business services in a “concierge model” that aims to foster growth and diversification in the sector.
The New Democrats called for lower borrowing costs for municipalities and irrigation districts to help them build infrastructure such as water lines and roads, saying the UCP has made it more difficult by increasing borrowing rates.
Notley also said a lack of capacity in the province’s regulatory agencies leaves projects waiting for years instead of months, and her party would add department staff to speed up the process.
Blyth said the government has worked hard to get spending under control, and won’t make decisions that threaten to erase that progress.
“It is important that we examine this comprehensively, from understanding ways to reduce red tape and make it easier for the sector to do business in Alberta, as well as to understanding where any competitiveness gaps may exist in the agri-food sector.”
lijohnson@postmedia.com
Lisa Johnson -Edmonton Journal
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks at a news conference outside Calgary city hall on June 1, 2022.
In the party’s latest platform proposal released Tuesday , it promises, if elected, to offer either loan guarantees, grants, or tax credits that would be decided by a newly created task force.
Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference in Calgary the plan represents a different approach than when the NDP was elected to government in 2015.
“One of our bigger mistakes was we didn’t take enough time to listen and consult with families, residents, business owners across rural Alberta, so I’m determined to do a better job,” Notley said, adding the proposal will require more consultations.
While in government, the NDP sparked an outcry in rural Alberta by bringing in a bill that changed labour rules for farmers.
The price tag for the plan will come as it develops, Notley said, adding the UCP’s eight per cent corporate tax rate doesn’t necessarily help agri-food entrepreneurs, and a targeted investment that competes with programs in Saskatchewan and Manitoba will cost less and have a better return.
It comes after the UCP announced last week it had exceeded its own targets by attracting almost $1.5 billion in new investment and creating about 3,000 jobs for Albertans since 2019. The government has highlighted several recent projects, including a planned $72-million INCA Renewtech hemp factory in Vegreville, and a $225-million Phyto Organix Foods Inc. pea processing facility in Strathmore.
Mackenzie Blyth, press secretary to Agriculture Forestry and Rural Economic Development Minister Nate Horner, said in a Tuesday email to Postmedia the ministry is also actively working on around 100 additional projects, with the potential of facilitating $5 billion more in investment.
“It’s great to see the NDP has been following our lead and are looking at programs that we are already working on,” he said.
In its June Define the Decade report , the Business Council of Alberta highlighted the importance of expanding value-added processing, like making potato chips from potatoes, and creating an agri-food program modelled after the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP), which offers government grants of up to 12 per cent of petrochemical project capital costs.
Team Alberta, a group of eight crop commissions, last month called for the UCP government to do more to help attract commercial agri-food value-added processors to Alberta, noting that large investments are landing in other jurisdictions instead.
Blyth said the department has heard concerns about competitiveness and will take a close look before developing the next provincial budget. He noted Alberta’s approach combines several grant programs and business services in a “concierge model” that aims to foster growth and diversification in the sector.
The New Democrats called for lower borrowing costs for municipalities and irrigation districts to help them build infrastructure such as water lines and roads, saying the UCP has made it more difficult by increasing borrowing rates.
Notley also said a lack of capacity in the province’s regulatory agencies leaves projects waiting for years instead of months, and her party would add department staff to speed up the process.
Blyth said the government has worked hard to get spending under control, and won’t make decisions that threaten to erase that progress.
“It is important that we examine this comprehensively, from understanding ways to reduce red tape and make it easier for the sector to do business in Alberta, as well as to understanding where any competitiveness gaps may exist in the agri-food sector.”
lijohnson@postmedia.com
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