Alberta
Alberta’s Site Selector Tool will help promote Alberta as destination of choice for business and investment
New tool making investing even easier in Alberta
Alberta’s government is committed to maintaining its strong business environment that promotes investment and economic growth. The Site Selector Tool provides businesses and investors the data they need to make informed decisions about setting up shop or expanding in communities across the province.
“Alberta’s government is always looking for ways to attract job-creating investment to the province. The Site Selector Tool is another way our government is making Alberta even more investment-friendly by putting critical information at the fingertips of people looking to invest here.”
This user-friendly tool combines available property listings in communities across Alberta with insights on local economic conditions, industry data and proximity to crucial infrastructure like rail terminals and power lines. It is helping investors from around the world find available properties in Alberta that are suited to their unique needs.
“Technology is the driving force behind the growth and diversification of our economy. By providing digital tools that connect businesses and prospective investors to the opportunities that abound in our province, we are ensuring that our province’s national leadership in economic growth and job creation continues.”
Municipalities and economic developers across the province identified a site selector tool as a valuable resource to help them attract business and promote their communities as a destination of choice to potential investors. The Site Selector Tool complements the province’s business-friendly programs and policies to attract investment, further solidifying Alberta as the economic and job creation engine of Canada.
“This Site Selector Tool will be an excellent resource for Alberta economic developers in their efforts to create thriving communities. This centralized resource equips Alberta economic developers with the breadth of data needed to strategically identify investment opportunities, foster informed decision-making, and drive sustainable economic growth and prosperity across our province.”
Quick Facts
- Alberta’s government distributed a survey to municipalities, regional economic development organizations and industry associations in August 2022.
- Half of the survey respondents noted that they do not have the proper online tools to promote properties in their municipality or region, with 92 per cent of respondents indicating that they would use a site selector tool.
- With almost 7,000 available properties already featured on the tool, Alberta’s remote and rural regions are being empowered with access to free, easy-to-use data and a platform to pinpoint and shine a spotlight on local opportunities.
Related information
Alberta
Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
Alberta
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