Although we've learned that things can change in a second, the future appears to be very bright for the Estevan business community over the next few years.
In an interview for the Estevan 2020 series, The Mercury spoke with Michel Cyrenne, the executive director of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, to get a read on what the future holds for the local economy.
Cyrenne said he's excited about the next five years, noting the chamber expects to see increased oil drilling activity over that period. He added the ongoing work at the Boundary Dam and Shand Power Stations also bodes well for area businesses that reap the ancillary benefits of these projects.
"In terms of oil and gas, power generation and coal mining, those are three very strong industries going forward," he said. "Agriculture has had a number of good years and in terms of what is going on globally, I think we can expect agriculture to be a strong sector as well.
"On top of that, the entire southeast region is growing and we're of course the retail and service centre in terms of any professional services, trade services, retail activity we are kind of the centre of a population much larger than our own."
While having activity in the area is obviously positive, there is the question of whether or not Estevan has placed itself in a position to capitalize on all the activity.
Cyrenne said the city does have infrastructure challenges facing it but that can be said for a number of communities across the country. He added one area the chamber would like to see the City of Estevan improve upon is developing a clearer community vision.
"We'd like for the City to maybe have a better idea of where it sees itself in the next five, 10, 20 years," he said. "I know the City has its official community plan in place and the RM is working on one right now. The three of us together are putting together an economic plan so we are looking to the future."
Cyrenne added that the chamber completed an economic readiness test in 2012 and scored very well. He said that test was useful in the sense that it gives them an idea of what their strengths are and how they can continue to build off them. On the flip side, it also highlights weaknesses they need to improve upon.
"What that helped to do was give us an understanding of what we need to have in place for investment attraction and what types of information are readily in demand of," he said. "A lot of it is stuff that we have had in place for a number of years. It's something that we definitely take some comfort in knowing that we are properly prepared to meet with investors and attract investment in the community."
Cyrenne said the economic plan, which they are currently working on, is another aspect of being ready for the future.
"Primarily what we want to find is where our core strengths are and how we can expand on those, how can we seek further investment in the community and continued investment in the community," he said. "Obviously housing is one of the major hurdles right now but beyond that, how can we assure that investment attraction can be sustained over a long period of time, not just the next five to 10 years of high drilling activity?"
Cyrenne said in speaking with investors looking to do business in Estevan, they are often shocked at the pace of the activity in the community.
"They are quite excited about the Bakken (oil play) and obviously clean coal. They are excited about the opportunity to do business here and we often hear that people have never seen a broad-based economy like this one. As much as we are a resource-based economy, we are a very broad-based resource economy."
While it's obvious the local economy has a lot going for it, there are also some major challenges, namely the lack of labour and housing.
There are currently over 1,000 job listings for the Estevan area on saskjobs.ca and a number of others that aren't listed. For that to change, it's obvious that the housing issue will have to be straightened out in the near future. Cyrenne said work also has to continue to make Estevan a place where people want to live and not just work.
"Making Estevan more of a destination community for business and family is a quite critical part of the labour (issue)," he said.
Cyrenne said the chamber will continue to take a lead role in helping local businesses attract employees. Of note in 2013, the chamber will be attending a prominent job fair in Calgary.
"Our mission is to be a recognized leader and catalyst for positive change for business in the community."
