For Immediate Release
November 1, 2019
ALBERTA—The announcement of Encana’s upcoming head office departure is a sad development for Alberta, but it’s far from a canary in a coal mine that many are describing it as. At this stage, it’s part of a pattern that occurs with the metronomic regularity of an incoming tide.
Canada has a problem with the desirability of our business environment that many companies conclude they must look abroad—usually south—to grow, scale, or achieve sustainable performance. The sad reality is that Encana is a company that can be added to a long list of those who have moved on, changed dramatically, or failed altogether once they reach a certain size in Canada. Beyond energy, you can add to this list of Canadian missed opportunities the Avro Arrow, Uber, Nortel, and Blackberry.
This is bad for our shared prosperity on many fronts as it means that investment, intelligence, and decision-making move elsewhere. We must create a place, a culture, and a policy environment that supports greatness and success. As companies and as a country, we need to be thinking long term, not about one year or one company.
This means ambitiously taking on the work of making changes to our province and country so that we can retain our best companies and talent. The problem is real, and the need is urgent.