ECONOMY
Encouraging a New
Approach for Alberta’s
Road Network
The Alberta Chambers of Commerce
supports ARHCA’s efforts
By Ken Kobly, CEO, Alberta Chambers of Commerce
A summer survey of Alberta Chambers of Commerce
(ACC) members and the public confirmed what
many of us are hearing at the front counters of
our businesses, in boardrooms and at our kitchen tables:
Albertans are worried about the state of our economy
– specifically our energy sector, and they’re looking for
positive signs that government is serious about supporting
economic recovery.
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As the foremost provincial advocate for Alberta’s business
community, our organization is committed to working with
business owners and the Government of Alberta to advance
solutions that can help reset Alberta’s economy. We must not
only take into consideration the short-term realities of the
COVID-19 era, we must also look to the future.
One of the keys to this economic recovery must be a
modernized approach to ensure Alberta has a provincial
transportation network to move goods, services and people
safely and efficiently. Alberta’s roads serve as the backbone
of our natural resource sector and we must continue to sup-port
an industry that provides employment in all regions of
the province.
We welcomed Alberta’s agreement to match federal
money and invest $500 million in Alberta infrastructure
projects. This investment not only provides a much-needed
boost to local economies, it also accelerates the maintenance
projects on many important transportation routes that had
been delayed due to budget cutbacks.
This stop-and-start approach to transportation infrastruc-ture
is not sustainable and does not support efforts to diver-sify
our economy and take advantage of emerging opportu-nities.
Quite simply, without properly built and maintained
ALBERTA HEAVY Quarter 3 2020 19