Candidate calls for Calgary trade center

Montana should operate a trade center in Calgary, a Flathead County business leader and legislative candidate says.

Dee Brown believes the state is missing out on opportunities to sell Montana products in the Canadian province of Alberta.

To that end, she has scheduled a meeting to discuss such a venture. The meeting is 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish.

Brown has invited elected officials from across the state and candidates for the Montana Legislature. The meeting is open to the public.

“I want to have the conversation,” she said. “I want to hear about this idea. Is this viable?”

The current high value of the Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar makes the plan especially valid now, Brown said.

“The time is ripe,” she said. “Canadians have money and they come here to spend it.”

In addition to gauging interest in such a plan, Brown expects Tuesday’s meeting to include discussions of how to fund a trade center and what products could successfully be marketed in Alberta. She envisions agriculture products to be at the top of the export list.

One funding possibility she already has identified is bed tax revenue.

If the idea gains support Tuesday, Brown next wants to line up Montanans to travel to Helena in January to lobby the Legislature to open and fund the trade center.

Brown, a former House representative who is a candidate for Senate District 2, says the issue can’t wait until after new legislators are elected in November. If the groundwork is laid now, she says, “whoever is elected can carry this forward and get the bill introduced.”

The state operates trade centers in Kumamoto, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan.  Chambers, tourism agencies and economic development organizations around Montana work on various international trade projects, Brown said.

“But we need to join hands and share information,” she said. “Now, everyone is kind of on their own.”

Montana had a trade center in Calgary during the administration of Gov. Stan Stephens, Brown said. Stephens was Montana’s governor from 1989 to 1993.

Brown says legislation that creates a Canadian trade center should include language that provides for the center to be closed if the Canadian-U.S. dollar exchange rate changes drastically or if a future Legislature changes its mind about operating the office.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.