Calgary’s new economic development plan is being rolled out like a welcome red carpet to the city’s business community after several tumultuous years and an internal restructuring at the city’s lead agency to better focus on sustainable economic growth.

Details of the strategy – the scope of which includes strengthening of local small businesses as well as reaching out to international markets – were outlined to a packed audience at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last week.

“By releasing our business plan and performance measures, Calgary Economic Development is planting our flag on a hill called accountability,” declared CED president Bruce Graham.

“The hands-on approach that we’re taking is one that Calgarians will immediately recognize and understand.”

Graham took the helm of the agency last May, and has spent the last few months listening to concerns of the local business community and developing the agency’s new three-year business plan, which was presented to city council last month.

Graham said the Calgary region is facing several challenges, including a shortage of skilled labour, infrastructure problems due to rapid growth and an economy vulnerable to the economic and political shifts of the United States, its largest trading partner. But, he noted, “there’s an incredible optimism here and a sense that anything is possible if you have a good idea and you’re willing to work hard to make it happen.”

The business plan focuses on a sectoral approach to business retention, expansion and attraction, with key sectors including manufacturing, transportation and logistics, arts and entertainment, and tourism. Its goals include:

* Establishing CED as an economic development leader in Calgary.

* Retaining existing businesses and facilitating business expansion.

* Attracting new business and investment.

* Assisting new business startups and small business development. Graham is the latest president to unveil a new economic development strategy for the CED, which has endured the resignations of five presidents within nine years. Its troubled predecessor agency, Promoting Calgary Inc. (PCI), was perpetually saddled with controversy over its experimental, research-heavy approach to economic development and its lack of measurable results.

So Graham’s message of accountability – and the CED business plan’s emphasis on meeting and reporting key performance measures – is receiving warm reviews from the business community.

“New energy, more focus, accountability – all the right ingredients are there in their business plan,” said Chamber president Murray Sigler.

“The PCI model was flawed in terms of the governance processes it adopted – it wasn’t put together or completed properly. It was important that the model be fixed, and there’s a new leadership to help develop and implement it.

“The energy that’s being brought to it bodes well for the future, and it will allow us to maintain the momentum that somehow or other we’ve been able to sustain even without the perfect agency model,” said Sigler.

Rob Beamish, vice-president of Calgary Technologies Inc., which with Tourism Calgary and the Calgary Convention Centre Authority are sister agencies to CED, said he’s encouraged CTI is going to be working collaboratively with the economic authority.

“That’s why I think the future looks bright – CED, from the very outset, is looking at how we’re going to work together. We will take the lead in our respective areas and include each other to help make marketing the city successful.”

The city-funded agency currently sports a $3.5-million budget, leveraged with public- and private-sector contributions. Graham has ambitious plans, which include hiring as many as 10 new staff over the next three to four months. Some of them will be assigned to work directly with the city’s estimated 1,500 export-oriented businesses, primarily small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

While the plan stresses developing export markets and attracting international attention to Calgary’s pro-business attitude, “the steady growth of local companies is absolutely critical,” Graham said. “We know that 80 per cent of the future economic development in the Calgary region will come from growth and expansion of locally based businesses, the bulk of which are SMEs.”

Calgary’s economic strength lies in its diversity, Graham added, but the bread and butter of the city’s economy will remain a key sector for attention.

“While oil and gas has been ignored by my predecessors because we were already a global leader in the industry, oil and gas is to a large degree responsible for much of our diversification,” he told the Chamber audience. “I prefer to lead with my strong suit, and I will not take the oil and gas industry for granted.”