The Spruce Grove & District Chamber of Commerce welcome Mayor Stuart Houston of the City of Spruce Grove and Mayor Rod Shaigec of Parkland County as our guest presenters for the Annual Mayor's Regional Address, Thursday, March 9th at the Elk's Hall in Spruce Grove. Please join us and register on-line at your earliest convenience (click here) or call 780.962.2561 for more information.  This evening dinner event sells out each year so register soon.

NEWS WE ARE FOLLOWING    January 20, 2017 

Business groups shut out of NDP pre-budget meetings

Here is a curious way to hold pre-budget consultations in Calgary. Don't invite major business groups to attend.   By Chris Varcoe Calgary Herald

Here is a curious way to hold

pre-budget

Across the province, it's been hit or miss for local chambers to get invited to these pre-budget meetings, says Ken Kobly CEO of the Alberta Chambers of Commerce.

consultations in Calgary.

Don't invite major business groups

to attend.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci held a pre-budget meeting in the city Friday to solicit ideas for the province's next fiscal plan.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business weren't on the guest list. Nor was the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

In other meetings during the past month, the Alberta Chambers of Commerce and the Edmonton Chamber weren't invited either.

As he prepares for his third budget, Ceci said he decided to change course when hosting such information sessions.

"We are going around the province and have many business groups and representatives of chambers all across the province who have been at various meetings. I wanted to try something different this time," the Calgary-Fort MLA said before Friday's meeting.

"The consultation groups that we've got together now are reflective certainly of business, of community, of leaders, of non-profits. So it's a cross-section of the community and not just going to the chamber."

The finance minister, a former city councillor, spoke to local chamber events around the first two budgets delivered by the NDP government, in 2015 and 2016.

"This is more of kind of an evolution of outreach, as opposed to doing things the way they've always been done," he adds.

It's wise for Ceci to include all kinds of groups and individuals in the process. But it's a funny evolution to prepare a budget during a recession and not seek input from key organizations... read more

Changes to Canada's temporary foreign worker program could change "temporary" to "permanent" The case for temporary foreign workers

Feb 15, 2017 by Robbie Jeffrey

The service industry, agriculture and meat processing all rely heavily on temporary foreign workers.  In 2013, 270 workers at Husky Energy's Sunrise project were laid off and replaced by foreign workers. Four months later, 65 ironworkers represented by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) lost their jobs at Imperial Oil's Kearl Oil Sands Project to, allegedly, Croatians hired for half the normal wage. These were just two of many high-profile aberrations that further inflamed the debate about temporary foreign workers.

The discourse was so heated because when national identity is at issue, simple propositions raise complicated questions. The controversial program aims to solve an elementary mathematical problem: too many jobs and too few available workers. But its issues are myriad. What do Canadian companies owe Canadians, and what do Canadians owe foreigners?

In December, beginning what promises to be an overhaul of the program, the federal government scrapped the "four in, four out" rule, which set the length of the workers' stay and exile before returning to four years in each case... read more

The Big Impact of Small Business

A statistical look at small businesses and their influence on Alberta's economy

Alberta's small businesses form the bedrock of the provincial economy, accounting for 95 per cent of all businesses in the province and more than a third of private sector employment. Their influence extends to all aspects of the provincial economy - be it their contribution to the GDP, their record on employment or their increasing numbers - proving that even the smallest entities can have a big impact.

Small but numerous
"Small business" is generally defined as having from one to 49 employees. By that measure, 95 per cent of Albertan businesses are "small"

Where in the province are they?
More than a third of Alberta's small businesses call the Calgary region home, with just under another third based around Edmonton. The relatively low number of small ­businesses in the northeast ­corner of the province can be explained by the heavy presence of resource extraction companies, which tend to be larger, in and around Fort McMurray... to learn more

Coldest Night of the Year 2017 

Spruce Grove

It's cold out there. Walk with us on Saturday, February 25, 2017 in the Coldest Night of the Year, a fantastically fun, family-friendly walking fundraiser that raises money for the hungry, homeless and hurting in 100+ communities.

Parkland Food Bank is hosting a Walk-a-Thon to raise funds and awareness to fight poverty in our community.