Support for Economic Diversification

Alcan B.C. recognizes that long-term prosperity and growth in Kitimat, and throughout its operating region, depend on economic diversification. Fortunately, northwestern B.C. is attracting growing interest from proponents of often large-scale potential projects – in fields ranging from transportation to mining and power generation.

Alcan B.C. is committed to playing a role in facilitating economic diversification and development in Kitimat and the surrounding region. In 2003, it commissioned Unleashing the Potential, (3.5MB pdf) (summary version 222KB pdf) a major assessment of the region’s development opportunities. And, in 2004, Alcan B.C. appointed a full-time economic resource officer.

This individual is coordinating Alcan B.C.’s close collaboration with other regional economic development interests, such as the KT Industrial Development Society and the Haisla (First Nation) Business Development Corporation.

Alcan B.C. has also played an important role in the formation and advancement of local programs and institutions that foster economic development, such as the Regional Industrial Development Centre and the Kitimat Valley Institute for Industrial Education.

Alcan B.C. is particularly focused on exploring uses for company-owned properties that are surplus to its own needs, and that have the potential to support economic development and job creation if put to other uses. Opportunities to leverage existing infrastructure, such as Kitimat’s deep-water port, are also being explored.

In actively promoting economic diversification in the Kitimat region, Alcan B.C. is following a successful model the company has deployed elsewhere. Through similar efforts in Quebec, for example, Alcan successfully collaborated with various local interests to create some 800 new jobs in diverse fields over a two to three-year period.

Alcan B.C.’s Economic Resource Officer can be contacted at: ecodev@alcaninbc.com