While Albertans have voted in favour of remaining in Canada, the business community still has some concerns around the rest of the referendum. Doug Griffiths of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and Ruhee Ismail-Teja with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce join Michael Higgins to talk about the outcome of the vote. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Michael Higgins: I get the sense there is a bit of a sigh of relief at this point, but to what degree was the business community on pins and needles with the outcome of the question of separation? Doug Griffiths: I don’t know that I would say that the business community was on pins and needles, but there was definitely some anxiety. But it was a built-up anxiety from going through the pandemic and having some challenges with that, to dealing with the tariff situation and the uncertainty that’s coming from the United States, and then to add this on top of it. I don’t know that this issue (specifically) was the pins and needles, but it got to be pins and needles after constant tension that we have (been under). It leaves the business community in limbo, deciding whether or not they’re going to hire new people, deciding on whether or not they’re going to reach to new markets, deciding on whether or not they’re going to make some core strategic investments, and it was the compounding of those issues that just made (the referendum) the pinnacle of stress. MH: Ruhee, was there a plateau of support for independence that you were watching for that might have elevated the level of the business community’s concern in the outcome? What if pro-independence finished five per cent, or even 10 per cent higher? Ruhee Ismail-Teja: I think we were anticipating that it could be a little bit higher, but we’re really pleased with the voter turnout. From our perspective, when the results of the election mirror the polls, that’s a good sign that people did show up to vote and that it is an accurate representation of how people feel. With the 75 per cent, businesses are feeling quite confident and see this as providing a level of certainty, especially because we know the 25 per cent (of people) that voted for Option 2 is a combination of both those who wanted to separate and those who just wanted to send a message. So, for sure, this is a resounding indication that Albertans are keen to stay in Canada and work through whatever challenges we have as part of confederation. MH: Doug, where do you see businesses putting their focus now post referendum? Has the level of uncertainty truly lifted? DG: Ruhee hit the nail on the head that there’s a big sigh of relief, but there’s still one in four Albertans that at least wanted to send a message to Ottawa, and that’s disconcerting. But, the focus for Alberta companies, for Alberta businesses, and even the rest of the country now, is to capitalize on the opportunities we have because Canada is on the international stage, given the disruption south of the border. There’s new investment coming and I think there’s a lot of businesses that are ready to get back to work and get on with it. There’s a lot of optimism that we can have a lot to capitalize on as business communities across the country. MH: Ruhee, regarding the nine other questions, what level of concern is there over potential policy flowing out of those questions pertaining to immigration? RI: It’s been really interesting to see how close of a call it has been for those questions. I think it’s not a clear mandate or full-steam ahead for the premier, which she acknowledged in her remarks both yesterday and the day before, and that the government will proceed with caution. I think that helps allay some of the business concerns. But we have heard widespread concerns from our business community based on the fact that they rely on immigrant labour, and that a lot of these changes that were put on the ballot could have implications for, perhaps, the ability to attract labour, but at minimum, could impact costs and the cost of labour. We’ve seen indications that there won’t be changes coming until at least the spring, and so that gives businesses and Albertans, broadly, the ability to weigh in and provide their thoughts on an ongoing basis between now and then. MH: Doug, what’s your perspective on that from an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce point of view? DG: It was quite disheartening, actually. I don’t think it really reflects Albertans’ understanding of what we need to maintain our economic growth and to increase it. I don’t think it was intended to be the message. Even the way the questions were framed and written adds some context I don’t think is necessarily justified at all. Even the premier recognised, a couple of years ago, saying, “We’re going to be 10 million people. We are going to have a massive, growing economy. We’re going to lead the country. We’re going to need more people.” And we can’t steal everybody from British Columbia and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we need people from around the world to come here to continue to drive the economy. I think businesses are a little apprehensive still, I’m a little apprehensive of what the consequences might be for these close votes. But, as Ruhee said, this is the opportunity for businesses to step up and explain how important attracting new people to this province is for our economic growth. MH: Ruhee, as a final thought, was this referendum worth the exercise? Does it put Alberta in any better position as an economic powerhouse? RI: Alberta has always been an economic powerhouse. I do think the conversations that I’ve had have been around the fact that this is a distraction from a lot of our key priorities, and businesses are really eager to get back to thinking about Canada-U.S. trade and the implications for that and the opportunities internally within Canada – interprovincial trade barriers, internal trade broadly, the importance of small business. So businesses are really keen to get back to being able to chart a path forward and think about our opportunities, and feeling a real sense of optimism that we’re able to get back to that conversation, and be able to do that within Canada.
