KPMG's 2010 Competitive Alternatives reports that it is more costs more effective to do business in the Red Deer Region than the Canadian average. The Red Deer Region’s growing economy equates to thriving businesses. Many of the Region’s traditional and emerging sectors are expanding.
Traditional sectors include oil and gas; petrochemicals; agriculture; food and beverage processing; distribution, wholesale and retail services; and tourism. Newly emerging sectors include telecommunications and wireless services; biotechnology; and value-added agriculture. Within minutes of the Red Deer Region, an expanding cluster of major petrochemical operators including Nova, Dow, and BP Canada Chemicals Co. employ over 1,100 staff. This is the third largest petrochemical cluster in Canada.
Oil and Gas—An Economic Mainstay
The Red Deer Region is known as Alberta’s head office for oilfield production services. The Region's competitive expertise in the oil and gas sector is a source of innovation. Local companies are responsible for advances in information technology, oil service technologies, equipment fabrication and transportation. These emerging sectors are adaptive, nimble, globally competitive and are selling products and services to companies around the world.
BMO Financial Group study showed that knowledge-based professions and scientific and technical services supporting the oil and gas industry are largely made up of small firms. As a result, Red Deer has among the highest number of small businesses per capital.
Strong Agriculture and Agriculture Processing Centre
A thriving centre for value-added agricultural processing, with tremendous future growth opportunities, compliments the Region’s historical roots in mixed farming. The agri-food industry grew by 8.4 % over the past decade. This far outstripped the Canadian average of -1.1%. The land has deep, fertile, black soils; reliable surface water and ground water resources; and a favourable growing season. 90% of the land in Red Deer County is dedicated to agriculture production.
Expanding Manufacturing Industry
The manufacturing industry in the Region continues to grow and diversify into efficient suppliers of specialized products. Metal fabrication, petrochemicals and transportation equipment are just some of the areas supported by this industry. In 2009, overall sales for manufacturing shipments totalled $55.1 billion. The refined petroleum, food processing, and chemical products sectors reported the highest sales figures.
Metal fabrication is the largest sector of manufacturing in the area. Machinery, wood cabinetry and construction materials are the next largest sectors. The majority of manufacturing companies (73%) in the Corridor employ between 1 and 25 people. 7 percent of manufacturers employ over 100 workers. A total of 73 manufacturing companies export their products in the region. These companies export to over 35 different countries.
Prime Distribution Hub
As the service centre for all of Central Alberta, the retail, wholesale and distribution industries continue to expand to meet market demands. A number of organizations, including Chrysler and Nestle Purina, demonstrate the efficiency of distributing throughout Western Canada and the North Western United States from the Red Deer Region.
Broad-Based Service Sector
The Region’s sophisticated service sector offers a full range of retail, wholesale and professional services.
A range of professional, legal, accounting, consulting, graphic design and advertising services help support the success of local businesses. The dynamic financial services sector includes retail banks, investment firms, stockbrokers, trust companies, credit unions, mortgage companies as well as insurance agents, brokers and adjusters.
Large retail companies such as Home Depot, Chapters, Costco, Leons and Future Shop are located in the Region and serve the primary trade area. Other retailers such as Sobeys, Walmart, Save On Foods and Canadian Tire have added second stores to meet market demand.
Popular Convention and Tourism Destination
The Region’s central location between Calgary and Edmonton make it a popular destination for tradeshows, festivals and conventions. Facilities range from small intimate meeting spaces to large (200,000 sq ft) multi-use facilities. With 18 hotels and nearly 2,000 rooms, Red Deer has one of the highest numbers of hotel rooms per capita of any Canadian city.
The Red Deer area can accommodate national and international events. World Figure Skating and World Curling Championships are among recent world-class visitors to The Region’s facilities.