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when these businesses gain fair access to capital,” says Clement Doore, IBC trustee.
Jack Royal, chairman of IBC’s board of directors and a former IBC customer, explains the
organization’s importance: “Call it reconciliation, call it healing, whatever — our path to prosperity involves awareness, education, understanding, ownership, and the right tools. IBC is one of those important tools — helping Alberta First Nations small business owners experience economic dignity.”
The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) funds initiatives that benefit Indigenous communities throughout the province. As of the end of 2023, the AIOC has supported $680 million in investments across the province through loan guarantees. These guarantees have been granted to 42 different Indigenous groups.
Its latest project is a $20.5 million deal that will allow five Indigenous nations, banded together as Niyanin Nations LP, to become major players in a 15-megawatt cogeneration unit at the Wembley Gas Plant, located in northwestern Alberta. It’s a partnership with NuVista Energy Ltd.
“It is always heartening for me to see another group of new Nations continuing their journey towards the freedom and stability that comes from these investments, and for an- other company to show true action when it comes to reconciliation,” says Chana Martineau, the CEO of AIOC.
FINDING UNICORNS IN ALBERTA
Evolutions in tech bring billions
ALBERTA HAS BECOME a place where ideas come to life.
“There’s something happening in Calgary,” says Brad Parry, president and CEO of Calgary
Economic Development and CEO of Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund. “Historically, in Calgary and our province more generally, it was challenging to build and scale a company. You had to go somewhere else.”
But the last decade has seen this change, especially in the financial technology sector.
“As the demand for technology to optimize and improve business operations grew, so too did the evolution of the technology space,” explains Parry. “The success stories we’ve seen prove that you can launch and run a globally successful company right here in Alberta. You don’t need to leave anymore.”
Companies like Solium Capital, which was sold to Morgan Stanley for $1.1 billion in 2019, and Parvus Technologies, which entered into a $1-billion deal with San Francisco-based medical research firm Genentech in the same year, are among five unicorns — private startups valued over $1 billion — that have emerged in Alberta over the past five years, with the most recent being Neo Financial.
“People like to get things done here,” adds Parry. “They’re working together to raise the profile of the entire technology sector. They’re realizing that these winds are helping everybody in the community.”
BY THE NUMBERS
$1.5 BILLION
Will be invested by Alberta in digital
transformation for financial services from 2021 to 2024
8 PER CENT
Alberta’s corporate tax rate, which is the lowest
in Canada. Alberta also has no payroll taxes, sales taxes or capital taxes
75 PER CENT
of the top 20 global investment banks have branch offices in Alberta
$19.7 BILLION
Is Alberta’s tax advantage for 2023-2024
ALBERTA TAX ADVANTAGE
Albertans across all income ranges continue to pay the lowest overall taxes when compared to other provinces.
ALBERTA’S TAX ADVANTAGE
2023-24 ($ BILLIONS CAD)
19.7 20.2
25.1 25.4
25.9 29.3
30.0 30.6
31.7
Graph shows the total additional provincial tax and carbon charges that individuals and businesses would pay if Alberta had the same tax system and carbon charges as other provinces. Reflects tax rates as of February 3, 2023.
Sales tax
Other taxes/ charges
Ontario
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
British Columbia
Quebec
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Newfoundland & Lab
rador
AT A GLANCE
Made-in-Alberta Mortgage Solution
The notion of how a mortgage works is fairly common around the globe. The buyer of a home doesn’t have the money needed to cover the purchase. A bank covers the majority of the cost, and the buyer then slowly pays back the principal, with interest over the years that follow.
But an innovative company, launched in Edmonton by John Stainton and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, has re-created what a mortgage is. The Canadian Halal Financial
Corporation has worked with Islamic clerics in the Edmonton area to create a way for devout families to finance their homes.
For many devout Muslims, the idea of paying interest breaks sharia law. As well, their faith forbids them to pay back interest to a bank that could use it to invest in things such as alcohol or pork futures, which don’t mesh with Islamic faith.
Their product ensures that Islamic families can pay back the principals on their homes in a way that avoids interest, and a guarantee that their faith will be honoured.
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