Alberta's Industrial Heartland Association marks 25-year anniversary at annual conference

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The Alberta Industrial Heartland Association (AIHA) marked its 25th anniversary on Thursday with its annual stakeholder conference at the Edmonton Convention Centre.

“As we celebrate this significant milestone, we look forward to building on our successes and continuing to work with all stakeholders towards a prosperous, innovative, and environmentally responsible future,” said AIHA executive director Mark Plamondon in a press release.

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The AIHA covers a 582-square-kilometre region northeast of Edmonton. Created through a partnership of the City of Fort Saskatchewan, Lamont County, Strathcona County, and Sturgeon County and the City of Edmonton, the intent of the AIHA is to promote responsible industrial development in the region that emphasized economic growth while balancing environmental responsibility.

Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean spoke highly of the success of the AIHA at the conference.

“I know there’s a lot of jurisdictions in Alberta that would like to emulate the industrial heartland. I know it’s a great success story, especially over the last four or five years, in partnership with the Alberta government,” said Jean.

One of the largest projects in the industrial heartland over the past 25 years was Dow’s Path2Zero project — the world’s first net-zero emissions ethylene cracker and derivatives site. 

Jean said the success of the AIHA is due in part to the strong relationship that it maintains with the provincial government and an ongoing commitment to its common goal of creating a strong economy in an environmentally responsible way that is “doing some of the world-leading things on sequestration and plastics.”

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He said it was a “proud moment” to see the AIHA celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Roughly 1,000 people packed the convention centre hall to listen to a series of industry updates at the conference, which also yielded an announcement from Cando Rail and Terminals on its latest investment in the industrial heartland zone.

“We’re pleased to announce today that we’re expanding our Sturgeon Terminal. We’re going to be doubling the size. It will be up to a $200-million investment at the full building,” said Cando’s chief commercial officer Steven Bromley.

Bromley said the investment comes after Cando had already invested more than $150 million in the terminal, which currently has the capacity to store and stage 3,600 rail cars over 302 acres. The expansion will add an additional 320 acres west of the existing terminal and is expected to increase the capacity by 2,500 rail cars, including the ability to stage 12,000-foot unit trains.

Jean said although the Cando expansion is good news, similar announcements have been a common occurrence.

“Alberta is the place to be right now in North America for this kind of investment, and that’s because of a series of smart moves by people up to this point. We hope to continue that.”

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The energy minister said while the Cando expansion and the current success of the AIHA are positives, there is still room to grow, calling specifically on CN and CPKC rail to work together on future projects.

He said if the rail companies work with the province in conjunction with the federal government, Indigenous groups and municipal governments, he is confident arrangements benefiting everyone can be found.

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