“There is very much a "can do" attitude in Southeast Alberta. There
is bureaucracy, but it's only required bureaucracy and it's perfectly
acceptable to work within.”
Dewar Donnithorne-Tait
President & CEO, Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
May 31, 2010, Medicine Hat Alberta… Local and regional demographic, economic, and labour market information specific to southeast Alberta, including the community of Medicine Hat, is not always accessible and timely, often making it difficult for: employers/businesses, general managers or human resource managers, service agencies, education and training providers, economic development practitioners, and community stakeholders to access relevant information in one location. Although data exists, compiling, transforming and interpreting data into usable information for end-users can be difficult.
The Economic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta has joined with Alberta’s Employment and Immigration office, the City of Medicine Hat, the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Medicine Hat & Southeastern Alberta to resolve this issue. This group will fund and oversee the one year pilot project; this project is a result of business and community surveys which indicated employers and investors require this type of information prior to making business changes like adjusting workforce levels.
The group has engaged Tulin Sadouzai, who through research, analysis and writing will produce monthly and quarterly economic and labour market information products and provide briefings to the organizations, who will in turn make this information available to interested groups or companies.
The research and analysis will focus primarily on the City of Medicine Hat and southeast Alberta including the geographic areas of Town of Redcliff and Bow Island, the Counties of Forty Mile and Cypress.
Tulin will be interviewing major employers in these key sectors: tourism and hospitality industry, construction industry, non-profit and voluntary sector, manufacturing industry, energy sector and the retail sector quarterly. Readers can also expect expert commentaries on future indicators which will include a quarterly analysis from ATB’s Chief Economist Todd Hirsch, specifically for southeast Alberta.
The labour market and demographic project group is particularly pleased to welcome Tulin, who is currently a PhD Candidatewith theDepartment of Geography, University of Waterloo and has a Master of Applied Environmental Studiesin Local Economic Development. She brings many years of experience working in labour and skills development, planning and research fields.For more information on this project contact Caroline Grover, Executive Director, EDA at 403 488 7015.