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More international offices needed to sell Alberta, report concludes

Last Updated: Friday, June 6, 2008 | 12:25 PM ET

CBC News

The Alberta office in Washington, D.C. is housed in the Canadian Embassy. (CBC)

A review of Alberta's 10 offices abroad recommends that at least five more be opened around the world to build international partnerships and recruit foreign workers.

The Alberta Foreign Offices Review Committee, made up of Conservative MLAs, was set up in 2007 to formally review the network of international offices for the first time in more than a decade.

Its report, released Friday, makes 16 recommendations including:

Open offices in Moscow, New Delhi, California's Silicon Valley, and Rio de Janeiro.
Examine the Middle East as a potential location.
Reposition one of the Beijing offices to Shanghai.
Immediately place a representative in Ottawa.

Ron Stevens, Alberta's minister of international and intergovernmental relations, said the new trade offices will help address the province's skilled labour shortage.

"Because the world has changed so much, a lot of the work has become different in terms of the attraction of skilled labour," he said. "For example, both London and Munich, which were traditionally more trade-based, are now in significant ways skilled labour-based."

Users interviewed by the committee said the existing foreign offices were especially helpful for small-to-medium-sized businesses trying to get into international markets. But they said the network is too limited in representation outside of Asia, Europe and North America.

While the committee said it was satisfied with the level of accountability provided by the offices, it recommended that an external body conduct a cost-benefit analysis annually to look at the financial value of business and leads generated.

The report also reaffirmed the importance of having a political representative in Washington, D.C. to lobby key decision-makers, and it underlined the importance of sending a similar person to Ottawa.

The Alberta government has set aside about $15.5 million this year for the international offices.

Critics in Alberta have questioned whether the offices were necessary with Canadian embassies and consulate offices already established in the same regions.

Internal Links

Minister Mar goes to Washington
Alberta's man in Washington left with $105K
New rules speed foreign workers to Alberta

External Links

Alberta Foreign Offices Review Committee final report

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)

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