‘We’re stronger together’: Alberta referendum vote sends positive signal to investors, observers say

While Alberta business groups welcome voters’ decision to remain in Canada as a positive move for investment, uncertainty remains about how the other referendum questions on immigration will affect employers.

As of early Tuesday, over 1.4 million Albertans had voted to remain in Canada, compared to just over 460,000 who cast their ballots in favour of holding a binding referendum on separation.

“There’s a big sigh of relief this morning,” Doug Griffiths, chief executive of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, says. “This is a clear and solid no.”

Griffiths, who’s also a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, said the vote sends a clear message: the province doesn’t need further conversations about Alberta’s place in Confederation.

“I think the majority of Albertans will see this conversation over,” Griffiths said. “We’ve stated our case. Now let’s move forward and figure out how we work better together.”

While ballots are still being counted, results from five referendum questions on immigration were all leaning toward a yes vote early Tuesday.

Some observers worry that if the province moves forward with some of the policy directions in those questions, it could be an added burden for newcomers and increase costs for businesses.

Peter Veress, an immigration consultant at Vermax Group, says he’s been fielding many questions from his clients, many of whom are employers looking to attract talent to the country and fill labour gaps.

“If they (the questions) were to pass, I think that the employers are going to see increased costs,” Veress said, noting that an additional level of bureaucracy will also slow down companies’ abilities to bring in talent.

The immigration questions asked voters about a wide range of topics, such as whether they support Alberta seeking “increased control” over immigration, decreasing immigration levels and charging some immigrants extra when they access education and health care.

“That is just going to add more time, when Alberta really needs flexibility and the system needs to be more nimble,” Veress said.

There’s been a countrywide push to build major infrastructure projects over the past year and a half, which will require significant capital from investors and — more than likely — some immigration.

“We still are going to need skilled talent to do the work that we need to grow the economy,” Brad Parry, chief executive of Calgary Economic Development, said.

Parry says every billion dollars in investment equals about 10,000 jobs that need to be filled.

“So, we’re going to need 10 million skilled, talented (people) that want to come and work hard to help build our future for us,” he said, referring to a trillion dollars of new investment Canada hopes to attract over the next five years.

Albertans’ vote to remain in Canada is a positive sign for investors and a nod to the country’s stability as a place for them to park their pocketbooks, according to Parry.

“There were no riots; there was no burning of cars,” Parry said. “There was conversation; there was debate, and then it was put to a vote.”

“The clear message that came out of last night was that this is still one of the best places to do business in North America,” Parry said. “We’re stronger together.”

To investors, the vote to remain made it clear that Alberta is “open for business,” says Brian Madden, chief investment officer with First Avenue Counsel in Toronto.

“It’s onwards and upwards,” Madden said. “You don’t have to think of Alberta as, potentially, an emerging market sovereign credit risk.”

The referendum result is a slight departure from several recent polls, which indicated that just under 70 per cent of Albertans would vote to remain in Canada and about 24 per cent wanted to pursue separation. Across the five polls The Calgary Herald analyzed, roughly seven per cent of Albertans were undecided ahead of the vote.

Still, Griffiths doesn’t anticipate that all those on the leave side are “going to go away anytime soon.”

“They’re still frustrated. They still want to see change, and some of them are very determined that they’re not going to stop,” Griffiths said.

More to come …

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