Leduc-Nisku Economic Development Authority leads regional revival
Director Pat Klak breaks the boom-bust cycle with a vigorous focus on diversification
A quarter-century ago, Nisku was a bleak scene. Four-fifths of the companies in the jumbo industrial cluster south of Edmonton were tied to western Canadian oil and gas. Only three were exporters. The 1980 National Energy Program’s price controls, export limits and taxes left the business park gasping for breath.
If Nisku had continued on its 1970s and ’80s course, it would have boomed in good times and busted in the bad. A drop in the oil price of the magnitude experienced since last July would have delivered a stunning blow, and Nisku would have nearly died again.
But the area changed course. Remarkably, Alberta’s International Region – the official name for the district that includes Nisku, neighboring Leduc business park and the seven municipalities surrounding the Edmonton International Airport – is a good news story in a time when reporting the bad is the height of fashion. None of the good stuff makes it into print or onto broadcast airwaves even when visiting journalists encounter success stories, griped a participant in one of the legendary business breakfasts put on monthly by the Leduc-Nisku Economic Development Authority (EDA).
Always bustling and busy, these events embody a collaborative and forward-thinking approach that has transformed the region into one of Alberta’s most dynamic economic centers. And now as headlines regularly report on job losses and stock market declines, there are companies in Nisku that are apologizing on their websites for their continued inability to fulfil their back orders.
So what happened?
In a nutshell, Nisku and the surrounding region has matured and its focus has expanded and diversified, says Pat Klak, the EDA’s ever-vibrant director, who has been with the organization since 1992 and has been its boss since 2001. Just under one-fifth of the region’s more than 3,000 businesses are now directly tied to oil and gas. About 80 per cent are exporters.
The EDA has worked tirelessly to turn the industrial community around. Aside from the breakfasts – which are always well-attended by the regional politicians, business leaders and other interested parties – the organization is constantly involved in projects and overseas missions.
The region goes out of its way to attract investment, connect the right people with the right business opportunities, find out what local businesses need and learn how to get it to them. Innovative marketing is done, such as virtual trade shows for local businesses and through 2,300 volunteer ambassadors who promote the region internationally.
Klak’s energy is a force behind the region’s emergence as an economic powerhouse. Her enthusiasm for driving development through collaboration, co-operation and innovations hasn’t waned at all since her inauguration as director eight years ago.
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