A consulting firm acting on behalf of the federal government will be meeting with local businesses Friday in High River.

Human Resource Expert Chris Thomas says the goal is to increase numbers of newcomers to Canada to move to smaller centres to live and work.

"It's a wide variety, we've got people coming primarily from the agricultural sector but also from the services sector as well as oil and gas. We're trying to get a good cross section from people within the rural areas."

He says he'll report the results of the meetings to government so they can improve existing programs or create new ones.

He says meeting with business owners is crucial in planning for their future success.

"Knowing what the employers foresee and where they know the issues and the problems are going to be, really helps the government make some decisions on potential projects or the expansion of existing projects in order to help the employers."

He says the meeting is by invitation only but is confident an accurate amount of feedback will be obtained.

"If you can connect what kinds of jobs are available from the employers with people that are actively looking it helps the process out from both sides."

He says if the project works well in Alberta it will roll out across the country.