Advocacy group ‘stands up’ for business'

By Carol Christian
Fort McMurray Today
November 3, 2011 

Hard work and financial smarts are some of the tidbits of business advice from the man who helped save the Edmonton Oilers franchise from being moved to Houston.

Cal Nichols was in town Wednesday night in his role as chairman of the Alberta Enterprise Group. Nichols, along with AEG president Tim Shipton and several board members of the public policy advocacy group, were again visiting Fort McMurray, this time on a membership drive.

A reception held at the Suncor Community Leisure Centre drew an audience of political figures, business and community leaders plus school board and airport authority officials.

Shipton called AEG the staunchest defender of what's happening in Fort McMurray and the oilsands. He added AEG has zero tolerance for all the misinformation and false information being spread about the area and industry, and is unapologetic for taking on companies that participate in the rhetoric, attacking the oilsands.

That said, Shipton pointed out that the majority of AEG members are non-energy. "We stand up for all businesses."

Shipton said it's important AEG visit Fort McMurray, meeting with business owners about what the group does on behalf of business and promoting oilsands development across Canada and around the world. It also gives AEG an opportunity to get up-to-date with what's happening in the community.

"So many 'experts' profess to know exactly what's happening in Fort McMurray and really try to tell people up here the way it is," he explained. "We take a vastly different approach of trying to listen first, come up with some good solutions about what's best for the economy, not only in the region, but the whole province.

"I think it was a really good event for us to hear some business owners and different leaders in the community. It was a learning experience for us as well as we go out and develop our organization."

While some in the audience compared AEG to a chamber of commerce, Shipton said his group is more than that, calling it the "most focused and active business organization."

He described AEG as Alberta's most focused and active business organization. Members collectively employ more than 50,000 people and generate several billion in economic activity annually. Its mission is to apply the collective experience of its members to solving public policy challenges by providing advice to government, promoting sound policies and providing forums for the exchange of ideas and best practices.

While AEG works closely with chambers across the province, Shipton says the group is a much more action oriented, nimble organization than a chamber. "We are focused on the biggest picture issues facing the province. The chamber does a lot of good work on specifics, on taxation and regulation. We're focused on what is going to keep this province competitive. The other thing that we do ... is get out on the road and tell that story across Canada and around the world." He added that it's really important for business leaders to get out and fill the information vacuum because there's not enough information about what is happening in Fort McMurray. That's evident, he cited, when members talk to people in the U.S.

"It's not that they're negative on the region, they just don't know."

"We think there's a tremendous niche opportunity for AEG to get out and again confidently and proudly tell that story and again, get all these leaders with a tremendous amount of experience and success on board to tell that story," said Shipton.

Nichols shared that opinion, adding AEG's membership is made up of business people from oilsands developers to trucking companies, car dealers and restaurant operators. "When we go to do a trade mission to the Washingtons, or the Ottawas or Genevas, the people we're meeting with don't know all that. All they see is a big number of people who are there to support the interests of Alberta. ... There's a lot at stake here and I just think by a very, very large sector coming together, we tell the story better as a group than we do alone."

In promoting AEG membership, Nichols said, "If there was a reason to do it, it's do you want to be a part of something that is community-based and inclusive or do you just want to be by yourself?" Saying Fort McMurray is a very exciting place, Nichols admitted it amazes him how Fort McMurray has blossomed in identity on the world stage in the last 10 years.

"I've had the luxury of being up to the oilsands plants a number of times and it's just too bad that those who don't understand it or appreciate it, don't get up and see it in the flesh because it is what we're going to need for our financial security and stability moving forward and also energy security."

To aspiring entrepreneurs, Nichols advises, "Start out with hard work then very quickly, you have to learn how to manage money and that sometimes means making tough choices and sacrifices. Don't spend what you don't have and you have to save all the time, a little bit at a time and you eventually ratchet your way to something more than that. He admits he was "always very, very afraid of debt."

"Debt is many times the reason that there's failure out there in the business world."

There's no substitute for just continuing hard work, careful management and keep building the asset base, added Nichols, never a big risk taker. Nichols has been inducted into the Alberta Business Hall of Fame and was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada for his exemplary service to his community.

Good family support is also important, he pointed out, adding he had been "blessed" with such a supportive wife. "She worked professionally and certainly was the biggest part of raising our kids and man, you just have to have that support right in your house; a reason to get up in the morning and press on. "I will forever appreciate the contributions she made," acknowledged Nichols of his wife, Edna.