BUSINESS VISITATION PROGRAM
Brazeau County conducted a comprehensive Business Visitation/Import Replacement Program in 2006 and in 2009. The results were a very interesting contrast as 2006 was one of the largest booms our resource based economy has faced which resulted in huge labour and housing shortages, where as in 2009 we were dealing with the largest economic recession in 70 years.
The purpose of a Business Visitation Program is:
- To determine what businesses are located in Brazeau County
- To develop a relationship with those businesses
- To determine which businesses are importing certain goods and services which will then be utilized to attract businesses that will complement our existing businesses and not compete with them.
- To determine which businesses are looking to expand their operations and indicate whether they will be needing more land or buildings etc. This information is valuable for developers and our Planning & Development department in planning future industrial and commercial parks.
- To determine which factors and trends are impacting the businesses in both a positive and negative way, thus utilizing this information in future business retention and expansion projects.
In the case of the 2006 Business Visitation Survey the result indicated such a tremendous labour shortage that Brazeau County responded by entering into a Partnership with the Province of Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry to introduce the very successful Innovative Community Training Program which ran in 2007 & 2008. The Innovative Community Training Program is unique in that it does not just train people in the particular skill, but also includes training in all safety and first aid tickets, map reading, resume writing, and computer skills. A large part of the training is in life skills.
2009 Business Visitation.pdfBRAZEAU TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES
Brazeau County’s Economic Development Department is committed to continuous efforts towards the diversification of our resource based economy. By growing and attracting businesses from industry sectors outside of our existing businesses we can strengthen the future of our economic future without competing with existing businesses.
Tourism is one of the targeted industries that Brazeau County is focused on growing. The County is already a destination for OHV users to the large tracts of crown land and the immense large fresh water body of the Brazeau Reservoir and is now home to the Eagle Point Provincial Park and Blue Rapids Recreation Area . Within a 90 minute drive from Edmonton and just 3 hours from the Rocky Mountain Resort areas of Jasper and Lake Louise, our tourism industry is benefitting from being our capital city’s backyard and a great stop over on the way to the mountains.
In 2007 Brazeau County entered into a Partnership with the Province of Alberta to designate an area of crown land adjacent to the Brazeau Reservoir for commercial tourism development. For more information check out the Brazeau Investment Opportunities Website.
Working in Partnership with the Grande Alberta Economic Region (GAER), the Eagle Point Blue Rapids Parks Council (EPBR) and Brazeau Regional Tourism (BRT), Brazeau County is working to grow the tourism industry in the region through workshops, the first of which will be held on October 2nd, 2010 at the MacKenzie Conference Centre. Please check back for more information.
Brazeau Regional Tourism is a partnership between the Town of Drayton Valley and Brazeau County. The non-profit registered society is governed by a board with a representative of each funding municipality and a number of members at large from the communities. Brazeau Regional Tourism’s mandate is to serve the visitors to the area through the maintenance and staffing of the Visitor Information Centre and the marketing of the area through a number of materials. More information on about can be found at Brazeau Regional Tourisms website.
AGRICULTURE DIVERSIFICATION
Brazeau County is proud to be the home of the 100km Kitchen Party. this program which was funded in partnership between the Provincial Government – Rural Community Adaptation Fund, and a number of the surrounding counties, takes agriculture back to the sustainability of mixed farming and buying your food from your neighbour. The program started in 2009 and will sunset on December 31 2011. It has 4 components, the Eat Local Directory that markets growers and farmers markets within a 100Km radius of Drayton Valley to 70,000 households annually. The educational component that teaches both traditional food preservation skills and international cooking courses using food grown within the 100K radius. The facilitation of a small food processing cooperative that will produce and sell food that is made from food grown within the 100K region. It is an exciting project that has gained recognition nationally.
