New Place to Hang My Hat | In-coming Editor Paul Marck Sees “Cautious Optimism” for Alberta Businesses

“The stage is set for a new Alberta economy, one that will show steady growth and improvement.”

by Paul Marck

The face appearing in the adjacent space may be new to the pages of Alberta Venture, but don’t let that fool you. The bearer of this visage has been around Alberta’s business community for a while. I spent two decades as an editor and writer at the Edmonton Journal, much of that time on the business beat. Over the years, my byline occasionally migrated onto the pages of the Calgary Herald and Financial Post as well. My association with the Southam chain – now the beleaguered Canwest papers – goes further back, to stints at the Vancouver dailies and the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe.

More recently, I worked in communications for a Calgary-based utilities company and then for the Government of Alberta.

When the editor’s chair came open at Alberta Venture, I jumped at the chance. For me, nothing is more satisfying than toiling in the print media. So with that provenance – I am happily ensconced back in business journalism. For me, this is a wonderful opportunity to edit and write stories about Albertans and Alberta companies that make a difference. And telling great stories on the pages of Alberta Venture, our province’s authoritative voice of business, is my gold-medal motivation.

This is a fascinating time for business in Alberta. While it’s been tough, I believe the outlook now is one of cautious optimism.

And why not? The stage is set for a new Alberta economy, one that will show steady growth and improvement. Our energy industry, from which many good things flow, is trending in the right direction. Residential real estate looks solid. Companies are starting to hire again, and the talk on the street is positive. Taken on their own, these signals do not necessarily add up to a recovery. But, like the arrival of spring robins, the opening of restaurant patios and the appearance of shorts and sandals, they suggest that things are slowly warming up.

Those who govern us have no small role to play and we need to see imaginative, visionary leadership on the economy. The provincial government appears to be making some right moves to attract new investment and thaw the business climate. The red zone running up to the 2012 election has arrived early and I expect you will hear nothing but glad tidings emanate from under the dome. The federal government has a part to play too, and solidify plans to tame the recession-caused deficit.

Is business confidence pointing in the same direction? Does the upswing in stocks, steadily rising oil prices and a rebound in consumer spending mean we are coming out of the economic wilderness? It’s like one of those old Polaroid snapshots developing before your eyes. You see something, but you’re not quite sure what it is until more time passes.

I do not believe Alberta’s recovery will be anywhere as fast or precipitous as the boom times of those heady mid-2000s. Hot, explosive growth may float all boats, but it creates its own set of problems. We witnessed first-hand the infrastructure deficits, labour shortages, overtaxed social and health programs and ballooning costs of everything from home renovations to constructing oilsands upgraders.

So, what does Alberta’s business climate look like from this point forward? My level of confidence is high. How’s yours? I believe Alberta’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well-prepared to seize the challenges ahead.

On that note, we want to give you an opportunity to participate in taking the pulse of Alberta’s economy. Alberta Venture will undertake a business sentiments survey this month and publish results in an upcoming issue. It will allow for comparisons with the baseline information collected during our 2005 business confidence survey. A registration form for the online survey will be available on our website, albertaventure.com. We believe this is an important milestone for Alberta businesses. It provides executives with another tool to aid in decision-making about business investment, marketing and hiring, among other things. We are keen on you to take part. I also invite you to pick up the phone or dash me off an email any time. Applaud, criticize or suggest something we haven’t thought about.

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