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I'm far from suggesting that Edmonton needs to land every tech corporate investment, jobs announcement, corporate relocations, and I will caveat that I recognize on this forum and elsewhere there are surveys and reports boasting about Edmonton's tech momentum, but there is simply no denying that Calgary is eating our lunch with this. As I have posted before, the number of tech jobs, investments, relocations that have been publicly announced in Calgary this year alone versus in Edmonton is staggering... its simply not even close. This needs to be an issue on the next mayor's radar.
 
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This is just one of several upcoming tech announcements for YYC before the end of the year, according to Greg Kwong, regional director of CBRE Prairies from that recent announcement where Edmonton cracked the top 50 for tech growth. He didn't mention Edmonton in terms of upcoming prospects in the CBC story, but did say this:


"I can assure you that there are some big deals that will be announced between now and the end of the year," Kwong said, as more companies look to expand to Calgary.

"No head offices moving here in a major way, but lots of big branch offices of brand name tech companies that we all know. So, yeah, it's good news."
 
This is just one of several upcoming tech announcements for YYC before the end of the year, according to Greg Kwong, regional director of CBRE Prairies from that recent announcement where Edmonton cracked the top 50 for tech growth. He didn't mention Edmonton in terms of upcoming prospects in the CBC story, but did say this:


"I can assure you that there are some big deals that will be announced between now and the end of the year," Kwong said, as more companies look to expand to Calgary.

"No head offices moving here in a major way, but lots of big branch offices of brand name tech companies that we all know. So, yeah, it's good news."

That CBRE report stated that Edmonton is the fastest growing tech market in NA over the past 5 years because it accumulated 12,500 new tech jobs. Given what has been publicly announced and is expected to be announced, Calgary may have close to that many tech jobs announced this year alone.
 
300 more tech jobs for Calgary by way of RBC. Edmonton really needs a few of these kinds of announcements in the near future to provide some confidence for our marketplace, office market, CBD and grads; new and old.

 
300 more tech jobs for Calgary by way of RBC. Edmonton really needs a few of these kinds of announcements in the near future to provide some confidence for our marketplace, office market, CBD and grads; new and old.


Refer to posts 181 to 183 above. But yes, in my opinion this is becoming a much larger issue that I hope the next mayor addresses. We are losing too many potential high skilled and tech jobs to Calgary and that gives a lot fewer opportunities to new grads from the U of A, NAIT and Mac here in Edmonton. Its a multiplier effect that we continue to lose out on.
 
Refer to posts 181 to 183 above. But yes, in my opinion this is becoming a much larger issue that I hope the next mayor addresses. We are losing too many potential high skilled and tech jobs to Calgary and that gives a lot fewer opportunities to new grads from the U of A, NAIT and Mac here in Edmonton. Its a multiplier effect that we continue to lose out on.
Once again, you are making this a bigger issues than it is. Take a look at he macro picture here….YYC has lost way more white collar jobs then they’ve gained. I’ve had buddies from the their big O&G get shit canned and were hoping to get on as baggage handlers at their airport! They are much more dire l then YEG is.
 
Once again, you are making this a bigger issues than it is. Take a look at he macro picture here….YYC has lost way more white collar jobs then they’ve gained. I’ve had buddies from the their big O&G get shit canned and were hoping to get on as baggage handlers at their airport! They are much more dire l then YEG is.
And once again Mr O&G I dont understand your point. Calgary lost more O&G jobs than Edmonton so its not an issue? As I and others mentioned to your post before, its 2021 O&G is important but there are a lot more important jobs and sectors emerging in Alberta that Edmonton is missing the train on to Calgary. I dont get what hot take you keep peddling here.
 
300 more tech jobs for Calgary by way of RBC. Edmonton really needs a few of these kinds of announcements in the near future to provide some confidence for our marketplace, office market, CBD and grads; new and old.

A couple comments on this as well. The CEO of RBC mentioned the reason they chose Calgary was because 1. the city is a major tech player 2. Alberta has several post secondary institutions that are launching programs in tech, to which he specifically mentioned AI, 3. RBC has 4,000 employees in the province.

The issue I see here is that Edmonton claims to be a major tech player, Edmonton is home to THE best educational institution in the province which likes to boast its AI connections, and capabilities yet RBC and as announced many other companies continue to choose Calgary. Not a single tech company has publicly made an announcement like this in Edmonton this year and I'd have to go back to Google Deep mind in 2017 to remember the last time an announcement like this was made (to the best of my knowledge). This is a glaring issue.

RBC CEO's post:

 
Get on it folks

Everyone has agency.

Where's that petition for me to sign? I am sure many others would also sign it.

If you want to see change, you have to make it happen!!
 
Once again, you are making this a bigger issues than it is. Take a look at he macro picture here….YYC has lost way more white collar jobs then they’ve gained. I’ve had buddies from the their big O&G get shit canned and were hoping to get on as baggage handlers at their airport! They are much more dire l then YEG is.

Dude, can you just answer one thing: WHAT IS IT that you have against the tech sector? Are you a frustrated developer or just blissfully ignorant to the fact the well paying, high-skilled tech jobs will be the future of ANY developed economy and Edmonton (or Canada, as a whole) is no exception to that?

Also, Calgary's economy is far from being in a more dire situation than Edmonton's. Right now, they're about the same s**t, with the difference that THE FUTURE PROSPECTS for them are increasingly better than ours, thanks to the inaction of our own people, from politicians to entrepreneurs AND the excessive negligence of the UCP (United Calgary Party, it could well be its actual name) towards Edmonton, while they spend the big bucks to save Calgary from ruin. And, again, economies do not need to be exclusively reliant on one industry or the other and local business, especially in the food and hospitality, are what keeps most cities afloat when things are bad (hence why Covid hit everyone so hard) so kudos for the brewery's on 99 St, I hope we see more stuff like this around the city (Alberta Ave, for example, could very well use such an initiative). But bringing in jobs like the ones Calgary has been landing this year: R&D tech jobs, especially, is what will bring tax revenue, grow the economy and replace O&G as the main driver of the economy. That's what will bring us the prosperity, the welfare...

And in case you still doubt that O&G will be a thing of the past in no time (I'd wager less than 15 years), get the reaction of people to the wildfires and the smoke, this past week, all around the world. Climate change is freaking real and FINALLY people are, in general, getting that we need to do something in regards to that or else we're all gonna die (pick your choice: drowned in a flood, burned alive by wildfire, lung cancer from pollution, heatstroke, starvation... people will die, in lots, from phenomena that didn't even were regularly recorded 100 years ago). Getting rid of fossil fuels is a HUGE part of that change and the technology industry is in the forefront of developing the stuff that will get us out of that hole (or do you REALLY believe that tech industry is just like, programming videogames and maintaining streaming services?). So pardon us for complaining that the CoE and the Province of Alberta should be doing more to land some of these in Edmonton, or for pointing out that we need some of these to help kickstart our economy after a brutal pandemic, or for simply wanting Edmonton to thrive, prosper and evolve.

And you mentioned before, in one of your comments, that I was aggressive, or angry, I don't remember. YOU BET YOUR A** I AM. I have absolutely ZERO patience with the kind of discourse that you're bringing in. It is because this sort of mentality that Edmonton has been taking hit after hit, not only when compared to Calgary, but even much smaller and less capable cities, such as Halifax (which is about 1/3 the size of our population and even less than that of our economy), for example. I am also angry that we have a lot of people, including a huge majority of those involved in the O&G industry, that refuse to accept that, while we might have several paths to the future of our economy, NONE of them pass through O&G. They'd rather fight against an initiative that would see them use all of those skills they have in other industries, especially low-carbon energy (hydrogen, solar, wind, NUCLEAR) than accept change.

And for anyone who is from O&G that might be reading this and is not necessarily a forum contributor: THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK! Oil & Gas workers ARE NOT EXPENDABLE! No one wants to get rid of you and make your families starve. We, the people who want changes in our economic direction, want to INCLUDE YOU in this, and even more: we know we CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU! We'll need your skills to build and operate our hydrogen (and hopefully nuclear) power plants, to maintain our solar farms, to take care of remote wind farms (like only someone who's been working in the oil rigs would know how).

_______________________ End of Rant____________________________

PS: I'm over sensitive with the whole environment issue after spending 3 days in the hospital with supplementary oxygen because of how the smoke triggered my worst ever asthma crisis, earlier this week.
 

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