This release was issued under a previous government.
“October 18 – 24 is Small Business Week, a time when we recognize and celebrate the key role small business plays in the economies and communities across our province. Small businesses are strong contributors to the provincial economy and are job creators. They comprise 95 per cent of all businesses and are responsible for 35 per cent of all private sector employment in the province.
“Alberta is a good place to live, explore new ideas and to launch a new business. However, being good is not good enough. We want Alberta to be a great place to start a new business, build on a new innovation and get a new idea off the ground.
“The Government of Alberta has an important role to play as a partner to job creators, entrepreneurs and visionaries. It is more important than ever to get that role right when we are managing an oil price shock.
“We will respond to these challenges with an ambitious and forward-looking plan for economic growth and diversification. If we want to become Canada’s best place to start and grow a business, we need to focus investment to build a modern and efficient infrastructure.
“Our plan is about access to capital and supporting innovation. It is about trade development and being single-minded in attracting inward investment throughout our economy. It is about reforming the way we structure government so that we are easy to work with and can provide one-stop shopping for government business services.
“In the next few weeks, our government will give Albertans a plan to protect and create jobs today and diversify our economy for the jobs we need tomorrow. This is what our plan is about and Albertans can expect to hear more in our budget.”