Thunder Bay’s Community Economic Development Commission Revises Their
Strategic Plan
At a media event in their office located in the historic Thunder Bay Hydro building the CEDC took the opportunity to present their new strategic plan. “It is an out growth of our original strategic plan which was designed in 2008. The world has gone through a lot of change
since then so this is a revised strategic plan. We tried to identify priority areas for allocating our staff and our somewhat limited financial resources. We are trying to target the primary growth areas of Thunder Bay, “said Paul Inksetter, Vice Chair Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.
“ Right now mining is one of those priorities because of discoveries in the region. There is also the continuing growth of the medical research sector as another target area to place our resources. We also don’t want to neglect the traditional economy like forestry but our target is
value added forestry which will provide a great return with the resources used. An example is the new company locating here Global Sticks.”
“A lot of communities across Canada that have a traditional forestry industry talk about the value added area. Global Sticks is a wonderful example of a company that is totally in that value added realm. They take a product that a lot of us use for fire wood and make it into a saleable asset that will be sold throughout the US. Global Sticks is about 98% done but it is very complex as the project has grown in terms of square footage. It is a big puzzle to put together a
factory assembled from three different continents,” said Steve Demmings, CEO of the CEDC. “I will say that as CEO we have had a lot of very heavy lifting since 2008 and our last strategic plan. We have a real strong foundation in place. People here ten years ago like Keith Jobbitt had the foresight to position the economy before a lot of other resource based economies did to become more knowledge based.”
“There is demand for resources around the world that are found in the North and not in may other parts of Canada. I think we are looking at a plethora of activities in the next 3 to 6 years. Our challenge will be attracting labour just like Saskatchewan and Fort McMurray have had to do for the last ten years,”said Demming’s. “Things are looking excellent in Thunder Bay. We have a new tenant on the 6th floor and anticipate having this building ( Thunder Bay Hydro) fully
leased by Christmas of this year.”
“There is no one magic bullet. It is a result of the hard work of Steve and his staff on the street, on the phone, attending conferences and putting out the word as to what the opportunities are as well as nurturing those people when they come to town in terms of labour, site, telephone and other services. Every once in a while you have a success like Superior Propane, Global Sticks or Tornado. Once we lay out the opportunities we can offer, then they choose to come here and set up shop.” said Paul Inksetter.
“I participated in the Ontario Economic Summit with the cabinet and 258 other delegates from across Canada recently. I wish you could have been in the audience to hear what major executives said about Thunder Bay and how we are viewed by our Southern Ontario cousins. It was really quite remarkable. The glass is more than half full.” smiles Steve Demmings.
CEDC Releases Strategic Action Plan
November 23, 2010 – The Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) released the 2010-2012 Strategic Action Plan today, incorporating feedback from a Strategic Planning Review session attended by 46 community stakeholders in January 2010.
The first Strategic Plan was introduced in August 2008 to develop a roadmap for the allocation of strategic resources for sector development in Thunder Bay and the region. The strategy was critical to the restructuring of the local economy, particularly in the forestry sector.
“Thunder Bay’s economy is definitely becoming more diversified, and the CEDC has been active in leading and supporting many initiatives that have contributed directly to that outcome,” said Tim Commisso, City Manager.
The 2010-2012 Strategic Plan will allow the City to set priorities and ensure the proper resources are in place to capitalize on Thunder Bay’s exciting growth opportunities.
“We went through some tough times before the global downturn began. We recognized the need for change, and our growth potential is much more positive than many other hard hit Canadian community.” said Paul Inksetter, Vice Chair of CEDC.
“We carefully assessed our strengths, and things are definitely looking much brighter for us now. This plan will guide us on our way forward.”
The CEDC receives formal proposals for projects that will contribute to economic development, and responds quickly to new opportunities and initiatives to attract direct financial involvement from government and private sectors.
“We continue to witness unprecedented global changes and evolving supply chain networks in response to the developing world’s appetite for commodities, which we have in abundance,” said Steve Demmings, CEO for CEDC. “There is significant interest and investment, particularly in the mining sector. The CEDC is preparing for significant growth opportunities ahead.”
For more information visit: www.ThunderBayCEDC.ca
