Edmonton's role as 'gateway to the North' could be facing a challenge.

A potential deepwater port on the Arctic coast some time in the future could conceivably lessen Edmonton's role as a nexus of northern trade and development, says Yellowknife Mayor Gordon Van Tighem.

Van Tighem was in Edmonton recently to promote Meet the North 2006, a three-day conference, tradeshow and job fair being held May 8-10 at the Mayfield Inn and Suites in west Edmonton. The conference will link businesses from the North with their southern counterparts, focusing on business development, networking, and solutions to the economic, industrial and political challenges facing northerners.

Although Edmonton has been traditionally seen as the gateway to the North in providing services and supplies to the growing northern economy, there could be trouble for the city if it doesn't keep stepping up to the plate, warns Van Tighem.

Dan Riedlhuber, Business Edge
Finning Canada's Greg McNeill says his company is ready to launch a major hiring blitz.

"There's (also) some European interests that have large lead, copper, zinc discoveries that aren't currently economically viable (in the North), but if a rail line went in, or the deepwater port that I mentioned, there are things that could happen that could change dramatically what is happening here," says Van Tighem.

He urges the Edmonton business community to take advantage of the opportunity that Meet the North offers, noting that he did little business in the north until he had gone up there and got a chance to meet the people.

Conference chair Paul Byrne says "we haven't seen anything yet" in terms of the growing economic might of the region.

"We have two major pipeline potentials coming down through the North that may end up hubbing around this Greater Edmonton area and we've got tremendous growing interest and a reliance now on our oilsands supply and the bitumen we have in this part of Canada," he says.

The booming resource sector includes diamond mining in the Northwest Territories, as well as other major projects and the business demands created by those opportunities.

Byrne believes Edmonton will continue to meet its role as a gateway city and keep up with the growing developments. He points to the strong interest in the conference's tradeshow as one example of the interest that already exists.

Initially, there were to be a maximum of 160 booths at the tradeshow, which will be free and open to the public. That number is now at 185.

Organizers are combining the trade show with a job fair to allow companies the chance to recruit new employees. "It's called a reverse (tradeshow) because we want to make sure that this job market comes in and the potential employees of the future come in and see these opportunities and understand what Finning (and other companies) is doing," says Byrne. "It's not just a matter of Caterpillar tractors, it's a whole career and an opportunity to live work and play throughout the North. Those are the kinds of things we want younger people to understand."

Edmonton-based Finning Canada, which sells, services and finances the Caterpillar line and complementary equipment throughout B.C., Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, will be keeping an eye out for potential recruits at Meet the North.

The company is looking to hire 400 people a year for the next four years, with plans to increase its labour force from the current level of about 3,100 to near the 5,000 level by 2010.

"Our business is booming in all of the northern locations we serve, as well as our other locations. It's been a stretch for us to find qualified people to look after all of that business," says Greg McNeill, Finning Canada director of human resources.

"About 70 per cent of those 400 people per year would be journeyman mechanics and the rest are support people such as in human resources, billing and financing."

Finning is recruiting across Canada and has had some success hiring mechanics in Germany. But McNeill says Meet the North also presents an excellent opportunity.

"It helps us a great deal, we're very interested in being a part of the community up there (in the North)," says McNeill. "We have lots of people working in that part of the world and we want to make sure they're happy.

"We want them to understand the culture, the business attitude up there, the environment, so that when they go up there they become true citizens of the community, not just takers of the community."

Tom Ruth, president of the Yellowknife-based airline Canadian North, says it's maximizing its opportunities by being part of the conference.

"The North is the place to be," say Ruth, who left Toronto to move to Yellowknife two years ago. "We were involved in (Meet the North) 2003 and we thought it was so successful in terms of meeting with people and helping our business that we decided to become a title sponsor in 2006."

In expansion mode for the last couple of years, Canadian North has three business units - scheduled passenger service, cargo and charters. All are on the upswing but it's through getting in touch with their customers via events such as Meet the North, he says, that "we're able then to adapt and provide unique air services into the North."

Sessions at Meet the North 2006 will include a symposium with KPMG and leading northern companies discussing financing, strategic planning, partnerships and tax reduction strategies.

Other sessions will take a look at major businesses in the North, workforce development challenges, cost of living, health and transportation concerns.

Web Watch: www.meetthenorth.com

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)