Alberta Enterprise Group, in conjunction with local partners, will host a delegation of business leaders in Vancouver from Nov. 5-7. Canada Connects: British Columbia will immerse business leaders from across North America and beyond in a high-impact learning experience about the opportunities and challenges in British Columbia. This is the second story in a series of profiles of companies that have already committed to be on the mission.

Herve Faucher is a serial entrepreneur who grew up in small-town Alberta, a background that convinces him one-on-one communication between businesspeople can lead to the kind of success he himself has experienced.

Faucher grew up in the northeastern Alberta town of St. Paul and is president and majority shareholder of GMS Aggregates Inc., which owns the Big Rock pit/quarry located 112 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray. Located near oilsands projects owned by Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy and Husky Energy, Big Rock contains 10 million tonnes of aggregate.

He still owns a home there and operates businesses in the area, and it is that “small town” experience that influences the way he relates to people.

To Faucher, one has to first develop a personal relationship before developing a business relationship, which is what he learned running an office supply store and a real estate agency in his hometown.

It’s why the businessman, who has also been an investor in a condominium project in San Diego, Calif., and assisted living projects in Calgary, has had his firm belong to Alberta Enterprise Group (AEG) for five years. It’s also why he has sat on its board for the last three years and is a strong proponent of the Canada Connects missions undertaken by AEG.

“It [AEG] is a great networking group,” he says, adding that he has gone on past missions to Washington, Quebec and elsewhere with the organization. “You make great contacts.”

And, as a result of making those contacts one can alter people’s thinking about resource development in Canada, which he sees as a critical part of the country’s future.

Faucher, who is fluent in French, was able to play an important role during AEG’s mission to Quebec two years ago. There is opposition in the province to TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline, which would move more than one million barrels daily of western crude to eastern Canada, as well as environmental concerns about oilsands development overall.

After he and others on the trip were able to present the business case for Quebeckers supporting the project, he said the businesspeople from the province were “very positive” about the pipeline project and the relationship between Alberta and Quebec.

AEG pointed out that trade between the provinces is worth more than $8 billion a year, which opened many eyes.

He believes the Canada Connects: British Columbia mission, taking place Nov. 5-7 in Vancouver, will lead to the same positive results.

“There’s always something to be learned on these trips,” he says. “People make pre-conceived decisions [about oilsands and other energy development]. Everyone should come to Fort Mac and see what is happening.”

Failing that, the mission will give AEG and the Alberta businesspeople making the trip an opportunity to show how oilsands and other energy development can benefit not only businesspeople, but all members of Canadian society, he said.

A prime example of those who would benefit from the construction of new pipelines, LNG projects and other energy infrastructure are B.C. First Nations.

Faucher sits on the board of Goodfish Lake Business Corporation, which is headquartered on the Northeastern Alberta First Nation of the same name and which has become a multimillion-dollar enterprise, specializing in areas such as industrial garment manufacturing and laundry and dry cleaning services.

In fact, the Goodfish Lake dry cleaning operation, with many oilsands industry clients, is the largest in the world.

“We’ll have Alberta First Nations representatives on the trip, so they’ll be able to talk to them about the benefits of resource development,” he says.

While discussions about pipeline access and resource development might dominate the trip, he says the business leaders will also deal with “market access” issues overall. Agricultural, mining and other products need to access foreign markets through the Port of Vancouver, so there is a need for the Prairie provinces and B.C. to work together.

Faucher points out that his involvement in the mission will lead to no direct benefits for his aggregates company.

“We don’t sell gravel to B.C.,” he says. “This is just something we should do as businesspeople [support the missions].”

When he went on the Quebec mission he toured the Port of Montreal, along with other businesspeople from Alberta and was very impressed with how busy it was and how efficiently it operates. The AEG group will also be touring the Port of Vancouver in November, which he looks forward to.

While he is dedicated to the big picture of promoting Alberta business interests through his involvement in AEG, Faucher continues to stick to his own knitting by concentrating on the management of GMS Aggregates, which employs seven full-time people and dozens of contractors during busy periods.

He says he is considering an expansion of the business to include a quarry near Edmonton and another in the Peace River area, a strategy aimed at diversifying beyond a reliance on the oilsands sector.

That doesn’t mean he’s a pessimistic about the sector’s growth prospects, he adds. The move to Peace River is aimed at servicing that region’s growing oilsands sector, as well as forestry and other development.