Chair's Greeting
Wayne Fraser Chair, Alberta Board of Directors As Chair of CME Alberta Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Alberta. We are the oldest business association in Canada, celebrating our 140th anniversary this year. In Alberta we have represented Alberta manufacturers and exporters since 1920. Today, manufacturers and exporters in Alberta are of many sizes (often employing two people to more than 1,000). They come from many different industry segments. They manufacture and trade in diverse segments encompassing nano sized products to multi tonne pressure vessels. Products and Services span agri-business, chemicals, energy and resource equipment, software, and professional services. Many members are looking to expand into larger Canadian and global marketplaces. Consider in excess of 77 billion dollars of goods were exported from Alberta in 2010 with manufactured goods representing 20 billion dollars. Alberta’s industries are clearly differentiated from other parts of Canada. We face unique opportunities and overcome unique challenges. In the last while consider the following: A Canadian dollar that has appreciated by more than 60% to the United States Dollar; fluctuating commodity prices; skilled labour shortages throughout sectors, reduced margins; and a more fully globalized supply chain - unique competitive forces. CME Alberta always seeks to enhance its members’ value. To highlight some of what CME Alberta done: 1) Working with Alberta Finance and Enterprise to create and implement the Competitiveness Strategy in the Province. Alberta is expected to see more than 200 million dollars of capital expenditure to the Oil Sands industry alone. Alberta Manufacturers need to exceed in our own back yard. We continue to work with Alberta Employment Immigration and Industry to adopt and recreate the Manufacturing Strategy. We will need the support of all of our members to achieve the goals of this strategy. We are working with the Federal Government to adopt an employee training program that uses EI premiums as tax credits to support productivity training for our member’s employees. 2) Working with Alberta Advanced Education and Technology to develop the support to attract technology and knowledge base clusters to our businesses. We want our members to attain business excellence, new innovation and sustainable growth. Along side these objectives appreciate we recognize that the Provincial Government has adopted a SRED investment policy. We support the Federal Government initiatives to maintain the accelerated capital cost allowance for manufacturing equipment. 3) Our Alberta staff continue to provide leadership and training in the area of best practices and lean training. CME Alberta is expanding this type of training to accommodate a larger Alberta audience. Process improvement is a factor in reducing costs and increasing global competitiveness. 4) Develop new opportunities for our members. With significant need for additional suppliers in the development of the oil sands, CME will be hosting the 12th Annual National Buyer Seller Forum (NBSF) in 2012. Collaborating with Federal Government, the Alberta Government, and Edmonton Economic Development Authority, we are working to increase the expertise of Alberta businesses to meet the challenges of more than 200 billion dollars in capital expansion and 150 billion dollars of MRO over the next decade in the Alberta oil sands. 5) Recognizing Exporters. Join us later this year for the third annual Alberta Export Awards which Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations partners with us to host each year. The event will be in Edmonton this year! Follow our CME Alberta Website for details on all our activities. I look forward to being your Alberta chair for the next two years and leading your Alberta Board of Directors as we represent you, our members. If you have any questions you can contact me through the CME Alberta office. Thank you, Wayne Fraser
Vice President, RBC Capital Markets