ALBERTA VOTES 2008

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Election Blog Squad

A vote for small to medium-sized businesses

February 11, 2008 | 12:47 PM
PaulPaul Bellows

I’m an Edmontonian, and I’m very aware of the fact that our city’s economy is uniquely driven by small to medium sized businesses that thrive on the current economic boom. You can see it from the way people live around the perimeter and commute to businesses in the industrial zones of the city.

Until the last few years, the downtown commute in Edmonton was negligible. It’s only in the last few years as we passed the magic million mark and our local business community started to look locally for world class services that the downtown business community has really started to thrive (hat tip: Jane Jacobs).

So as an owner of a small business, I think about what my needs are in the next 10 years, and where I hope our provincial government is planning to work and invest.

I need municipal services, like transit because my staff need to get to work. So I want to hear about plans to support and develop municipal infrastructure and help our cities to grow and thrive in a sustainable way.

I need a commitment to our educational institutions, because I rely on them to train my future workforce. I want to hear about plans to invest in our universities.

I need long-term revenue, so I want to hear about plans to continue to diversify our economy. I constantly try to develop a diverse customer base in my business, so that I’m not dependent on any one client and I want to hear about how the government plans to do the same.

I need to enjoy my life, and so do all my staff. We work to live, not just to earn. I want to hear about plans to support arts and culture in our province, to protect our parks and environment and to invest in community recreation — and in our airports so that I can easily get out of here for a week in the middle of February which is important
from time to time if you want to stay in love with Alberta!

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Comments: (1)

Dave M. (Edmonton) wrote:

It is unfortunate that this so called government of business does not care about small business. It is all about big business and big oil. We need a plan to encourage the development of our small business so that they can become national and international in scope. It starts with making sure our infrastructures are like education and municipal services are the best in the world.

Posted February 13, 2008 08:50 AM

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