Diamonds shining in tough Calgary economy

If oil isn’t cutting it for Calgary anymore, perhaps diamonds are the future.

De Beers Canada has released its socio-economic impact report and says the decision to relocate its head office from Toronto to Calgary earlier this year is paying off.

According to the report, the office move alone has supported about 160 jobs in Calgary and will contribute $24-million annually to the province’s overall economy.

De Beers Chief Executive Officer Kim Kruter likens it to a ray of sunshine in a gloomy period.

“The advantage obviously of doing that was we were able to pick up some very, very good people out of the oil industry, who have joined our organization and I think they’re quite happy that they’ve moved from black diamonds to proper diamonds,” Kruter said.

In 2015, De Beers activities contributed $1.2 billion to the Canadian economy.

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