The City of Cranbrook confirms that Mayor Scott Manjak will be meeting with a number of senior executives in the oil, gas and mining industries with investment interests in northern B.C. and northern Alberta at a special business forum later this month.

Through the planned high-level talks, the mayor will discuss what role the City of Cranbrook can play in helping address challenges in skilled worker recruitment and retention across the industry and in turn potentially create new business investment locally.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us, as a community, to create and foster new relationships,” says Manjak. “I am hopeful that these meetings can open doors to create mutually beneficial opportunities, for the future.”

Promoting the services of Integra Air, specifically, along with other air service providers in and out of the Canadian Rockies International Airport is a key component to drawing attention from the northern energy and mining industry to this region.

“We have a quality of life that is unparalleled here,” Manjak notes. “If these meetings can assist in building this region as the potential home to families of workers commuting to northern work, I think we have a win-win situation.”

Meantime, a local group of business owners are exploring a possible visit to the Fort MacMurray region later in November. If the mayor decides to accompany the group, he would limit his role to meeting directly with elected officials of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to pursue mutually beneficial opportunities.

“We have exceptional tourism opportunities for skiing, golf, hiking and many other recreation activities,” Manjak says. “We have the opportunity through Integra Air, Air Canada Express and Pacific Coastal Airlines to welcome the world to our spectacular region.”

Chris Zettel, City of Cranbrook

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