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Calgary & Alberta Economy

Wow. Wow. Kenney just appointed perennial backbencher, bible-thumper, and man who clearly cuts his own hair, Ron Orr to be the Minister of Culture. The only highlight of his 6-year career is that he warned that legalizing marijuana would lead to a communist revolution.

The reason I'm posting this in the economics thread and not the politics thread is because the Alberta Recovery Plan(TM) - remember that?!?!? - listed culture and tourism (separately) as two of the eight priority economic sectors for growth. In fact, it listed them above technology and finance.

If you needed more evidence that the Alberta Recovery Plan was just a hastily assembled PR campaign to shore up Kenney's approval numbers, this is it. Leela Aheer turfed for criticizing Kenney over the sky palace. Ron Orr put in for steadfast loyalty and stated belief that Kenney is "the leader God raised up for these times".
 
Silence&Motion said:
Wow. Wow. Kenney just appointed perennial backbencher, bible-thumper, and man who clearly cuts his own hair, Ron Orr to be the Minister of Culture. The only highlight of his 6-year career is that he warned that legalizing marijuana would lead to a communist revolution.
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Not that anyone has ever heard of Alberta's cultural minister or would consider moving here based on anything they touch, but this ties nicely into my previous comment about the disconnect of who is tasked with telling our "stories" about what Calgary and Alberta offers and the reality of living here.
 
It's definitely frustrating that Calgary's urban culture never gets promoted in the media. A good example is the difference between Richard White's "Everyday Tourist" blog and his opinion pieces for the CBC. The former shows his obvious passion for the city's culture and the latter is pessimistic and defeatist. The reality is that the editorial department's of the major national news sources could care less about presenting that side of Calgary.

In more positive news that is relevant to this discussion, my favorite festival to emerge in the last 10 years is back for 2021:
BUMP2021_website-header_1280x700-01-scaled.jpeg
 
There's the symbolic message sent by tossing out a younger, centrist woman of colour and appointing an older, white religious conservative man. Then there's also the question of actual leadership. This is the person overseeing the redevelopment of the Glenbow, the recovery of the arts sector, development of promotional campaigns aimed at increasing tourism, etc. They'll have a large influence over which events and organizations get grants. Rodeos, heritage festivals, and religious events will all do well, I suspect. Meanwhile, the province has still not committed to providing matching funds for the feds' $30 million grant to build the contemporary art gallery.
 
Oh god. It's worse than I thought. Apparently one of Orr's main jobs as minister of culture is going to undertaking an "Alberta Identity Strategy" aimed at fulfilling recommendation #25 from the Fair Deal report:
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I can only guess at what "cultural" initiatives will be designed to promote Alberta's sense of anger and resentment toward the rest of Canada. I'm sure we're going to get at least a dozen more "cowboy-on-horse" statues put up around the city. And this will pull funds away from legitimate cultural initiatives.

Seriously, though, in what possible way does promoting Alberta's so-called "cultural, economic and political uniqueness" ALLEVIATE the sense of disconnect from the rest of the country?
 
It's disappointing that in a time of profound crisis, the government's strategy is repeatedly to double down on all of our weaknesses -- reliance on a single industry, hostility to outsiders, fossil fuel addiction -- and try to destroy all of our strengths -- an educated population, great health care, beautiful and accessible environment. It's clear they would rather rule a declining Alberta than possibly have less power in a strengthening Alberta.
 
First economic forecasters are saying that we will be in a 'commodity super cycle' for the next year or two, and now some are saying that China's economic recovery is waning and therefore, global demand for commodities may not be as robust as first thought. Hard to know what to believe.
A commodity super cycle, which includes energy products as well as metals & minerals, would be a huge boost to our economy. We need it to pay for this massive debt. Canadians are not going to be able to pay it down with our own consumption, and tax increases will only weigh us down further.
 
JonnyCanuck said:
First economic forecasters are saying that we will be in a 'commodity super cycle' for the next year or two, and now some are saying that China's economic recovery is waning and therefore, global demand for commodities may not be as robust as first thought. Hard to know what to believe.
A commodity super cycle, which includes energy products as well as metals & minerals, would be a huge boost to our economy. We need it to pay for this massive debt. Canadians are not going to be able to pay it down with our own consumption, and tax increases will only weigh us down further.
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In 1997 taxes weree 35.79% of GDP. In 2019 they were 33.45% of GDP. That difference in 2019 was worth $40 billion a year.
 
Calgary now ranked 28 based on CBRE's tech market criteria. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-edmonton-tech-talent-survey-cbre-1.6102358

"Kwong expects more good news in the months ahead as more tech companies look to expand in Calgary. "I can assure you that there are some big deals that will be announced between now and the end of the year," he said. "No head offices moving here in a major way, but lots of big branch offices of brand name tech companies that we all know. So, yeah, it's good news."'



Already reported here but a huge Q1 for tech deals
$146 million raised in Q1 https://betakit.com/calgary-venture-funding-sets-two-year-record-thanks-to-late-stage-investments/
"The three largest deals in Q1 2021 included Symend’s $54 million Series B extension, Eavor’s $50.7 million round of funding, and wound care startup Kent Imaging’s $18.9 million round."
 
Mountain Man said:
Loving how quickly the tech industry is establishing itself here!
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Lots of good stuff. I';ve always felt that Calgary has a lot of good things going for it, and could transition into a new economy if done at the right pace. I don't know what the right pace is exactly, but something along the lines where oil and gas slowly wind down at a slow enough pace so as to not have Calgary crash and burn, but at a decent enough pace to allow other industries to grab cheap office space, skilled workers, etc...

It seems like we've been doing that over the past few years, but I have this feeling an oil boom may be around the corner.
 
It is going to be a weird 'boom'. A profit boom sure. But a job boom? Maybe less of one but mostly from needing to replace retirements with a more and more limited pool of people willing to chase the market as a career.

Would any company make a bet on an oil sands megaproject? I suspect not. But massive capital investment to implement carbon capture and storage with long useful life assets? Sure thing. Could it add $5 billion a year in capital spend? Maybe?

Smaller non-oil sands investments sure. Pile in to try to chase that dragon before USA shale swamps the market again. Though I suspect banks and financiers on both side of the border will be reluctant, someone will lend at a premium and make a lot of money until it all goes bad again.
 
'Weird boom' is a good way to put it. It won't be like past booms, but I feel like there will be more money for companies to spend, and some upticks on jobs, but not a job boom. Just a general uptick in money being added to the economy. The company I work for has a lot of oil and gas companies as clients, and we've seen a lot of business coming from them recently. It seems to be ramping up.
 
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