The province's newly released Rural Economic Development Action Plan (REDAP) will focus, in part, on helping to attract more young people and families to live and work in rural communities.
Mountain View County deputy reeve Patricia McKean applauds the initiative.
“It's definitely important to see that,” said McKean. “Part of it is education and knowing the differences between rural and urban. We are always looking to assist and help with that.”
The REDAP was unveiled on Oct. 28 following several public consultation workshops held across the province, including in Olds.
The plan focuses on five key themes: attraction, retention and entrepreneurial development; rural business infrastructure capacity; regional and cross-regional collaboration; financial and capital access; and industry and business development.
Regarding the desire to bring more young people and families to rural communities, the plan calls on the government to “explore policies and programs focused on attracting and retaining youth, families and industry leaders.”
Specific actions include providing incentives, such as scholarships and bursaries, to youth and new graduates to “bring their skills to rural communities”, increasing coordination of labour attraction programs and initiatives to “more effectively promote opportunities across Alberta”, and “provide information and tools for employers in rural regions to help address labour requirements.”
The plan also calls on the province to work with municipalities to increase housing in rural areas.
“The county has talked about affordable housing a lot,” said McKean, noting that the county encourages secondary suites in some cases.
The REDAP also calls for efforts to “enhance innovation and technology infrastructure to ensure rural businesses are positioned to be effective, efficient and competitive.”
That action will include identifying and reducing constraints to rural Internet speed and capacity, expand connectivity in rural areas, and advocate federal regulators for increased cellular coverage and capacity in rural areas.
The plan also calls for the negotiation of a new SuperNet contract, which expires in 2018, to “ensure the appropriate boardband services continue to be available to rural businesses and communities.”
In releasing the REDAP the province cited the O-NET community-owned fibre optic network in Olds as an example of new technology that can be used to improve business opportunities.
The REDAP also calls for the province to work with post-secondary institutions to “develop skilled business leaders and entrepreneurs in emerging industries” in rural communities.
REDAP calls for the Agriculture Finance Services Corporation to increase existing lending limits to “allow greater investment and, in turn, increase the ability to leverage additional investment from other sources.”
Premier Jim Prentice says the plan “sets out immediate, concrete actions and provides a long-term strategic outline to help meet rural Alberta's unique economic needs.”
The complete REDAP is available for public view at Alberta.ca.
"We are always looking to assist and help with that"Patricia McKeanMVC deputy reeve
