Province redraws economic areas

Minister of Enterprise and Innovation Lyle Stewart announced on Tuesday that regional economic development authorities (REDAs) will be supplanted by a system of larger enterprise regions.

"REDA has made a significant contribution to the provincial economy over the last 15 years, and we want to build on that success in these new, high-performance regions," said Stewart. "With a focus on increasing business and being more competitive, we are confident stakeholders in the regions will be able to realize more of their economic potential under this new program."

He emphasized a greater capacity to operate and entice industry into the area "on the world scale" as a result of enterprise regions.

The change will take place at the end of March 2009 when the current 27 REDAs will be replaced by 13 enterprise regions.

Along with this reorganization, an extra $2.5 million in funding was announced for the enterprise regions - doubling the total budget of regional economic development.

Because each region is fundamentally different in its composition, said Stewart, regions will be funded according to their demands.

Prince Albert will be part of the north central enterprise region, which has a population of 70,930 and an area of 22,500 square kilometres.

"The boundaries are still open for negotiations," said Stewart.

He expected they would be finalized sometime this fall.

"We hope the regions will see them as thick grey lines, not thin black ones," he said of the regional boundaries.

He expected co-operation and collaboration between the different regions.

At present the program will address only the southern half of the province, but Stewart said regions can be expected for the north within the next few years.

"I'm encouraged to hear a new plan is surfacing," said Wes Stubbs, reeve of the RM of Buckland. "We're interested in it."

Earlier this year, Buckland's council chose not to renew its membership in the Prince Albert REDA. Buckland's withdrawal from the authority was the result of increased membership fees.