With the Throne Speech laying the direction for the spring session of the Alberta Legislative Assembly, you can expect more details to be added in the Alberta Government's budget being tabled on Thursday.

Banff-Cochrane MLA Cam Westhead says the Speech from the Throne offered many opportunities and benefits for the Cochrane area including its focus on new technology, the indigenous investment requirement for the next renewable energy auction and the expansion of the government's $25 per day childcare pilot projects.

There are other more universal benefits, too, like setting the top price for electricity, offering more incentives to diversify and fortified Alberta's petrochemical industry and the government's stepped-up fight against B.C. for the Trans Mountain pipeline.

An Eye on Emerging Hi-Tech Industry

The Alberta Government says it will be creating 3,000 post-secondary technology-focused spaces over the next five years.

"That would help places like Cochrane that are looking to diversify into that technology and innovation space," says Westhead. "They'll have access to training in the post-secondary system and lots of skilled workers would be coming through the post-secondary system with the training ideal for the emerging technology economy."

The government also plans to introduce a new interactive digital media tax credit to encourage new companies to start up in Alberta or move here from other jurisdictions.

Alberta is expected to face a shortage of computer and information technology professionals by 2025 and a shortage of software designers, programmers and developers.

Electricity price stabilization

Since the deregulated of the electricity market by the Klein government there have been some wild fluctuations in prices. The government wants to change that by establishing a hard maximum price of 6.8 cents per kilowatt-hour.

"Albertans were given a song and dance by Klein in the past on how great deregulation would be. Living through that experience we see that it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows like he had been promising."

Certainly, it will be valuable for Cochranites, but it's even more important to residents of the Bow Valley where the cost of day-to-day items like electricity are a defining feature as to whether they can stay. Remote areas of the province will also largely benefit.

"The more certainty we can give Albertans in terms of what the upper limits of the cost would be, the more it will help people plan their budget."

$25 per day childcare

Funding to expand the $25 per day childcare pilot project had already been announced in December but was also highlighted in the Throne Speech. Applications closed at the end of January for the 4,500 more spaces being made available with federal government funding. The first 1,300 spaces were established last spring and funded by the Alberta government.

The successful applicants are expected to be announced soon. Initial interest had been expressed in Cochrane.

Indigenous Investment in Renewable Power Auction

An indigenous component is being included in the second round of renewable power auction and that may well suit the Stoney-Nakoda Nation.

The province is targeting projects producing 300 megawatts of electricity in a program designed to boost the economy and training of Indigenous people. There has to be an indigenous component of investment or land-use agreement.

"I  understand the Stoney-Nakoda First Nation is very interested in attracting an investment like this so they're quite excitement about the requirement for the auction to include indigenous communities like there's. It helps to create jobs on the Nation and it also helps ensure they play a part and are included in the economic benefits from diversifying our energy industries and leaning towards more renewal sources."

Petrochemical Diversification Program

Getting more value out of Alberta's petrochemical industry is being targeted with $1 billion in incentives over the next eight years from a partial upgrading program.

"If we can undertake partial upgrading here in the province, we get a better return on the investment. We get the jobs it creates and it frees up space in the pipeline as well. It's a win on all the fronts."

Having more plants producing the higher-valued propene (also known as propylene or methyl ethylene) as opposed to, say, propane gives us a better bang from our own natural resources.

"We may be spending a billion dollars today but it evolves into hundreds of billions of dollars in economic benefit."

The Fight for the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Westhead said the Throne Speech made it clear the government is taking a firm stand on its fight for pipelines. It was followed by a unanimous vote in the Legislative Assembly to back Premier Notley's fight for the Trans Mountain pipeline.

"When the energy sector does well, the whole province does well," says Westhead. "We want to focus a lot of attention on ensuring that the pipeline gets built. Investors are waiting for some more certainty and we want to support the energy industry and do everything that we can to make sure that pipeline gets built."

Opposition parties have said the Notley government has not been doing enough but Westhead said nothing is further from the truth.

"We've always said that everything's on the table. We've been supporting access to new markets since the beginning because we know that we lose a lot in terms of the price differential because we don't have access to a bigger market. Securing better access to tidewater will help get a better return for our energy products."

"The reason the pipeline got approved in the first place was because we're taking action on climate change. That laid the groundwork for the pipeline to be possible."

Westhead said they are taking a page out of the book of Peter Lougheed and how he stood up for Alberta's energy sector.

"We're not going to stand by while the rest of the country threatens our economy."