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“We have always believed that Calgary needs a new Event Centre,” CSEC president John Bean said in a statement on Tuesday. “However, under the current circumstances we do not see a path forward that would create a viable partnership with the city, which is essential for a new Event Centre to become a reality.”

According to Kenney, he spoke with several CEOs of “major Canadian companies” to promote investment in Alberta, and highlighted “all the great new amenities” being built in Calgary as part of his pitch including the events centre, the modernization of the Glenbow Museum and upgrades to Arts Commons.

“I do think that’s part of the broader package of an effort to get Calgary’s mojo back,” Kenney said.

Not sure if this is the right thread but on the topic of Calgary's arena I would love to know when the last time was / if Kenney and the The United Calgary Party has ever talked to Canadian CEOs about all the cool things going on in Edmonton while trying to boost Edmonton's mojo. Who's fault is this? Is this Edmonton's fault for not aggressively marketing itself as the place to invest and be in Alberta? How does Calgary continue to get marketed as the end all be all place in Alberta? Calgary and Alberta are basically synonymous when it comes to marketing and promotion in the government's eyes. Quite frustrating reading this quote from Kenney and its certainly not the first from him and his party.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8488592/j...ry-arena-deal/
 
I didn't hear about this before, does anyone know how legit GBAC is? I can't find any third-party reviews about them. I wonder if it's just an industry scam (like 'sustainable' seafood certifications), or more trustworthy like LEED.

icedistrict.com

Edmonton becomes first Canadian city to achieve Destination GBAC STAR Accreditation | ICE District

Edmonton is now the first and only Canadian destination to have obtained the Destination Destination Global Biorisk Advisory Council STAR Accreditation.
icedistrict.com icedistrict.com

www.reminetwork.com

Edmonton becomes first Canadian city to commit to city-wide GBAC STAR accreditation - REMI Network

Edmonton would be the first and only Canadian destination to obtain the accreditation and one of only two destinations in North America.
www.reminetwork.com www.reminetwork.com
 
CaptainBL said:
“We have always believed that Calgary needs a new Event Centre,” CSEC president John Bean said in a statement on Tuesday. “However, under the current circumstances we do not see a path forward that would create a viable partnership with the city, which is essential for a new Event Centre to become a reality.”

According to Kenney, he spoke with several CEOs of “major Canadian companies” to promote investment in Alberta, and highlighted “all the great new amenities” being built in Calgary as part of his pitch including the events centre, the modernization of the Glenbow Museum and upgrades to Arts Commons.

“I do think that’s part of the broader package of an effort to get Calgary’s mojo back,” Kenney said.

Not sure if this is the right thread but on the topic of Calgary's arena I would love to know when the last time was / if Kenney and the The United Calgary Party has ever talked to Canadian CEOs about all the cool things going on in Edmonton while trying to boost Edmonton's mojo. Who's fault is this? Is this Edmonton's fault for not aggressively marketing itself as the place to invest and be in Alberta? How does Calgary continue to get marketed as the end all be all place in Alberta? Calgary and Alberta are basically synonymous when it comes to marketing and promotion in the government's eyes. Quite frustrating reading this quote from Kenney and its certainly not the first from him and his party.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8488592/j...ry-arena-deal/
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Oh, whose fault is it that Kenney does not talk about all the cool things going on Edmonton? Presumably, he choose what he talks about, so I think that answers that question.

At times I think we still have battered city syndrome when it comes to Alberta's various Conservative regimes ... maybe if don't provoke them, they will be nicer to us. Nope.

We can increase our marketing by a milllion percent, but Kenney will only say flattering things about those he hopes will vote for him and he will continue to ignore the rest.
 
The city needs to market itself. We can’t rely on the province or whatever else to market us. It hasn’t happened and I just don’t see it happening. Explore Edmonton has been doing a great job these past years and will do more with the CEO change. However, what’s still missing is us as a city. No matter who or what promotes the city as a destination. The people here always seem to stand guard in formation and repel any compliment the city gets with ignorant miseducated opinions on the city they’re too embarrassed to call home.
 
Maybe that’s the issue though. We can’t keep ignoring it. I think we need to turn our focus from not only bringing tourism here but also changing Edmontonians views on Edmonton. How do you get more people to go downtown? How do you get more people to even consider downtown as a destination point for the night? Give people reasons to go. Sometimes it’s harder to change older suburban parents opinions on this stuff but easier with younger generations. Instagram accounts like yegwave are filled with comment sections of people hating on the city. How about start there. Get accounts like that to promote our downtown as well. Maybe have those $600000 balls on the side of the road moved to downtown. They’re already famous and known around the city. The main problem is that they’re on the side of a road useless. How about move them to Churchill square. With Churchill being where all the lines are going to meet. The opening of the valley line will bring more traffic to that area and generate more photos being taken and posted online. That’s how people find out about these things. Manchester square is a good example. Nothing is there, but people still show up for the picture. I’ve been asking my friends to checkout the ice district for years now and they’ve been ignoring me, until the ice district sign went up and they started seeing pictures posted around. Now they seem more up to it. It’s not just restaurants, pubs and an arena district that make a downtown attractive. It’s also what’s in between the walk going to the pub, restaurant and arena. Small things are what adds culture and spice to a city and what separates it from others. Towers and arenas are nice, but everyone has towers and arenas.
 
God said:
Maybe that’s the issue though. We can’t keep ignoring it. I think we need to turn our focus from not only bringing tourism here but also changing Edmontonians views on Edmonton. How do you get more people to go downtown? How do you get more people to even consider downtown as a destination point for the night? Give people reasons to go. Sometimes it’s harder to change older suburban parents opinions on this stuff but easier with younger generations. Instagram accounts like yegwave are filled with comment sections of people hating on the city. How about start there. Get accounts like that to promote our downtown as well. Maybe have those $600000 balls on the side of the road moved to downtown. They’re already famous and known around the city. The main problem is that they’re on the side of a road useless. How about move them to Churchill square. With Churchill being where all the lines are going to meet. The opening of the valley line will bring more traffic to that area and generate more photos being taken and posted online. That’s how people find out about these things. Manchester square is a good example. Nothing is there, but people still show up for the picture. I’ve been asking my friends to checkout the ice district for years now and they’ve been ignoring me, until the ice district sign went up and they started seeing pictures posted around. Now they seem more up to it. It’s not just restaurants, pubs and an arena district that make a downtown attractive. It’s also what’s in between the walk going to the pub, restaurant and arena. Small things are what adds culture and spice to a city and what separates it from others. Towers and arenas are nice, but everyone has towers and arenas.
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Yegwave is tough. But every city has that. 6ixbuzz in Toronto and 604.tv in Vancouver. People always hate on their own city.

But it does hurt our image. Idk the solutions though. Momentum is hard to build. Ice district helped, but that's died down. Crashed ice, fifa, world juniors, concerts etc help a bunch.
 
Apparently they are also in need of a field house. Turns out they don’t have one an Edmonton is building it’s fourth the new velodrome They are really upset that all those national and international events will end up coming our way.
 
IanO said:
Let them work on those over the next 20 years while we work on developing/attracting investment and companies with high growth potential that can fill or build some new towers to prop up our Downtown.
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Apologies as not to derail this thread but in response to your comment I am curious who this "we" is that is going to be focusing on attracting investment to the city? So far in every interview or speech I have seen from Sohi his main focus seems to be extremely heavy on social issues. Not at all saying that it should not be but I have yet to hear him say one thing about competing / attracting / focusing on growing or attracting companies and investment to Edmonton, especially as we continue to climb out of the pandemic. Is it Edmonton Global? If so, I can only think of two larger public investment or company announcements (Polykar and Air Products) that have been tied to Edmonton Global since their inception in 2017. Again, I am just interested to hear who it will be that is attracting the investment and companies you are referring to cause it certainly will not be the province lobbying on our behalf as per my post #829.
 
CaptainBL said:
Apologies as not to derail this thread but in response to your comment I am curious who this "we" is that is going to be focusing on attracting investment to the city? So far in every interview or speech I have seen from Sohi his main focus seems to be extremely heavy on social issues. Not at all saying that it should not be but I have yet to hear him say one thing about competing / attracting / focusing on growing or attracting companies and investment to Edmonton, especially as we continue to climb out of the pandemic. Is it Edmonton Global? If so, I can only think of two larger public investment or company announcements (Polykar and Air Products) that have been tied to Edmonton Global since their inception in 2017. Again, I am just interested to hear who it will be that is attracting the investment and companies you are referring to cause it certainly will not be the province lobbying on our behalf as per my post #829.
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On this point, last month, Calgary's mayor was in Texas for World petroleum conference along with reps from provincial government making the case for Alberta regarding future technologies and low carbon strategies.


Was somebody there from the city of Edmonton? I didn't read anything that there was an Edmonton official there, just Calgary people (municipal and provincial).

In the election, Sohi talked about putting in a funding program similar to Calgary's to attract companies to come to Edmonton or expand their existing operations here.

Hopefully work is beginning to get that established and activated.
 
Yeah the "we" is all of us, particularly those who have connections outside of Edmonton and not just relying on the mayor alone.

I am not sure what it got us in the 1990's other than a few call centres when we had a mayor focused only on civic boosting driving around in his city funding vehicle. I don't think he was taken very seriously outside Edmonton.

Sure Sohi's background and experience is elsewhere, but neither of Calgary's last two mayors were from the business community or had really close ties to it either, before becoming mayor.
 
I think in the last 30 years, there has maybe been one major regional head office that has relocated to Edmonton - Finning CAT? The reality is that this has been a homegrown success story kind of place for a very long time now. The 1970s, 1980s era of Edmonton being the recognized centre of the oil industry in the rest of the country are in the rearview mirror. It isn't always a bad thing that most of Edmonton's big companies are homegrown players... it keeps the head offices decision-making here and helps to develop a unique business culture, can-do attitude, and a lot of loyalty. However, I believe that Edmonton is now big enough, diversified enough, and economically powerful enough that we probably could snag some major relocations/ regional office expansions. i.e. the era of only homegrown business growth is ending. Provincial government should be expected to help lead this. I want to see both UCP and NDP come out with Edmonton-specific economic development strategy, the Mayor needs to demand this.
 
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