“The Red Deer Region has experienced substantial economic growth since the last KPMG study in 2006. With a diverse range of local industries and competitive costs, the Region remains an attractive place to do business,” said Howard Thompson, Land and Economic Development Manager for The City of Red Deer.

Competitive Alternatives; KPMG’s Guide to International Business Location compares business costs for 136 cities in ten countries: Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The four business areas used in the study were manufacturing, research and development, software and corporate services. The results were determined using recent exchange rates with the Canadian dollar valued at U.S. $1, up 17.4 per cent from 2006. Using the United States as a baseline, Mexico is the lowest-cost country with a cost advantage of 20.5 per cent. Canada is second with a marginal 0.6 per cent cost advantage over the United States.

“As the United States gains a competitive edge from their weak dollar, it’s important for the Red Deer Region to focus on other non-cost values to remain competitive and attract businesses,” said Thompson. These values include availability of skilled labour, economic conditions and market, quality of life, infrastructure and innovation.

Red Deer had an overall business cost of 97.2 per cent compared to the U.S. baseline of 100.0 and showed the strongest cost advantage in the following industry sectors:

• Product testing – electronic system development and testing (89.3 per cent)
• Advanced software design (90.3 per cent)
• Web and multimedia content development (92.4 per cent)
• Clinical trials management (92.7 per cent)
• Biotech and Biomedical research and development (93.3 per cent)

The study reinforces the Red Deer Regions strategic business location at the centre of the Calgary/Edmonton corridor. It is 4.8 per cent more cost effective for a business to operate in the Region compared to Calgary and 2.7 per cent more cost effective than operating in Edmonton.

The Red Deer Region is also ranked seventh out of 25 major western Canadian cities.

“This study is great news,” said Red Deer County’s Economic Development Manager, Deb Bonnett. “We’ve already seen an increase in businesses coming to the Region in recent years to take advantage of the considerable market opportunities and the competitive operating costs. With our central location, businesses are recognizing that our region has just as much to offer as Calgary and Edmonton with some added benefits.”