[patm]

So as most of you probably know, Calgary decided to vote no on the Olympic plebiscite last night. As a Calgarian, I was conflicted and decided not to vote and awaited the results like everyone else. When the No vote was announced I found myself relieved, but this morning I find myself depressed.

It's not that I'm depressed that we won't get a party in 8 years. I'm depressed because it feels like this represents a final shift in the spirits of the city. We have now relegated ourselves to penny pinching and planning for inevitable death of the cities economy. I'm not saying that hosting the Olympics would have changed that, but it would have given us a glimmer of hopeful optimism. It would have given us a month or so span where Calgary would've had a platform on the world stage and it would have made our city one of the top destinations in the world in the year 2026, what we could've done with that knowledge was up to us and now that is off the table. Now there is no grand plan and all that the city can do is keep sending out their economic development teams around the world desperately hoping that something changes (they have had no success in nearly four years now) and working desperately to retain what non-O&G industry we have here (how long does a company like Benevity really hang around?).

So that brings me to this post. How do you see your regions future shaping out in the next 10-20 years?

For me, I see Edmonton overtaking Calgary in population growth over the next 10 years as the Oil industry continues to consolidate and shrink and no industry appears to be on the horizon to fill the void. I see Alberta leveling out without any significant growth on the horizon. I see Canada growing in population with climate refugees starting to migrate north and settling in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (unless relocation planning is effective) and this might bring reprieve to the service industry in the major hubs. I see the Canadian tech industry struggle to remain competitive in an increasingly monopolized business environment. I see resource extraction as Canada's future which will lead to turmoil in the political landscape as mining for precious metals, water and other resources becomes our only stable lifeline, one that we will have to defend from internal and external threats. Outside of that I see the rest of Canada revolving around working for one another, trades and small corporate jobs really leading the way. I see our GDP shrinking relative to the growth of the developing world.

Go ahead, tear me apart. I hope someone here can prove me wrong!