During the CGC announcement of a $210 million wallboard plant being developed in Wheatland County, MLA for Drumheller Stettler, Nate Horner relayed a short anecdote about the development of the project and the government involvement.
He said this was one of the first projects he became involved with, following being appointed Minister of Rural Economic Development.
As the project evolved, it had a couple of hurdles.
“There’s no magic wand to economic development, it’s about cooperation, communication and collaboration,” he said.
During one of these bumps in the road, Horner took a call from Wheatland Reeve Amber Link, during a break in a caucus meeting.
“I came back in (to the caucus meeting)… and the premier was giving a speech to us all about economic development and said ‘look, if anybody is having problems, I want to know about it.’
“I raised my hand and said ‘I think you are going to Germany.’ He had no idea what I was talking about, but the next thing his chief of staff came over and they got in touch with Amber, that's how fast it went,” Horner said
“In six minutes, Amber had the ear of the Premier. That speaks a lot about how Alberta is working right now. We are working together, from the municipal government to the province, with Invest Alberta, so I hope that is more of what you will see in the years to come.”
