Calgary Chamber of Commerce

A new study on the economic consequences of Alberta separation is laying out some dire warnings.

It was commissioned by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and says the city would have up to 69,000 fewer jobs if Alberta left Confederation.

The report comes three weeks before Alberta's referendum.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has tossed trafficking convictions against two activists.

I will, I believe she has that as well.

uh you need to go follow her right now do that pause the show come back in a minute it's okay my feelings will not be hurt she is very very very good at what she does uh please come back after don't watch the rest of her stuff after the show or come back and just you get what i'm trying to say she's amazing and i have nothing but good things to say about her so there's that um But Danny had a bit of a rougher rough week in a couple of other departments as well, because on the September 22nd, on the September 22nd, she appeared with Calgary Chamber of Commerce and she had a Q&A there.

And it's something interesting.

What the real problem is that we have is that the 246,000 temporary workers we have in Alberta right now have 48,000 kids in the education system costing $600 million and went to, I believe it was the 300,000 hospital visits last year costing $400 million.

You know, there's some business leaders and economists who say that separation wouldn't serve Alberta.

Calgary Chamber of Commerce report in June projected that separation could spur a business exodus, shrink the provincial economy by up to $62 billion a year.

Pro-separation leaders dispute that figure.

But when you hear those economic arguments, Rob, against separation...

The Premier this past Tuesday said your government is considering charging temporary residents.

The number she put out there is a $1,900 fee for access to public health care.

In response to the Premier, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce president said employers may have to cover those costs, that fee, especially in the case of low-wage workers.

And she has concerns.

With international trade routes choked by tariffs, business leaders say it is time to drop domestic boundaries.

A major report commissioned by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce estimates that removing interprovincial trade barriers and labour mobility restrictions could add $5,100 per person to Canada's gross domestic product.

Chamber Chief Executive Officer Deborah Yedlin says with Canadian businesses confronting new barriers abroad, reducing red tape between provinces and territories is increasingly important to strengthening economic resilience.

That economic strength was highlighted in a new ATB Financial Outlook.

I'm Michelle James and today I'm joined by Ruhi Ismail Teja and Alexa Briggs to discuss what Alberta's referendum on exploring separation could mean for the economy, public services and the financial well-being of Calgarians and Albertans.

Ruhi is an executive leader in public affairs, currently serving as vice president policy and external affairs at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, overseeing public policy, media and communications, and government and external relations.

Ruhi's other community contributions include serving on the board of directors of the Workland Center and has previously served on the board of McGill's University's Max Bell School of Public Policy, YMCA Canada, and others.

Prior to this role, Ruhi worked in the upstream energy industry, post-secondary sector, and contracted with government.

So that's a really interesting juxtaposition to this assumption even.

A, what would you even say to that? Do you both view it that way? Do you agree on lots of things? Do you not agree? But then when it comes to Alberta's future and economic prosperity, where do you find common ground?

I mean, I consider RUHI a partner in this work and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce a partner in this work.

And so, you know, I think I've never doubted that we all have a commitment and a commitment and an interest in strong, healthy, vibrant communities.

the more formal portion of the event today, which is at Habibi's Banquet Hall, 37th Ave Northeast, 7 o'clock, with different guest speakers.

And what I think is always on our text line here, Chris, is we have had many groups from the Business Council of Alberta, to the Calgary Chamber, to the mayor of our city, to even the Canada West Foundation, which says they are nonpartisan, with the data that says the uncertainty of separation is what will hurt business investment and pipeline development and growth in the province and to this date i don't feel like those interested in independence or separation have the same matching data that dispels that can can you speak to that

well yeah sure and in most cases we don't even need to dispel the data i mean data is data math is math My position on a lot of those things is those groups tend to not talk about the other side of the ledger.

They're giving us one side of an invoice and they're not telling us about the other.