THUNDER BAY — The city's Community Economic Development Commission is looking to outside sources to develop a plan to guide its strategy to the end of the decade.
At a projected cost of up to $140,000, the CEDC hopes to land a consultant to assess both the opportunities and the risks impacting economic growth, and to develop recommendations for appropriate actions to be taken over five years, from 2026 to 2031.
The existing strategic plan, which expires next year, was developed largely in-house, with input from local stakeholders.
Commission CEO Jamie Taylor said she, her team, and the board of directors agreed it would be advantageous to take a different approach this time.
"We could decide, based on our expertise, what we think the priorities are. But we wanted to take it one step farther to really do an assessment on opportunities. We've been focused largely on mining and forestry, bio-economy items, as well as tourism. In the past, prior to my time, there were other areas that the CEDC had been focused on. Are those still relevant? What's changed in the market?"
She noted the CEDC doesn't have an economist on staff, and believes the new plan should be data-driven.
"It's so we are ensuring that we our putting our efforts in the best places, so that we have the greatest return on investment for our funds."
The CEDC works with an annual budget of about $3 million.
It offers free, confidential services to businesses including help with property and land selection, talent recruitment, and business incentives, and its responsibilities include:
- Entrepreneurial support
- Business development
- Business retention and expansion
- Exporting advice
- Collection and assessment of key business data
- Community marketing
- Tourism promotion
The commission's next strategic plan could potentially identify new opportunities in areas such as aviation, tourism, film, advanced manufacturing, agri-processing, health sciences, clean technology and energy.
The successful bidder for the project will provide information, Taylor said, that will help the commission grow the local economy and increase the tax base, "so that everyone in the community hopefully can have a better outcome for employment or lower taxes, and just generally a healthy and thriving community."
In the first phase of a two-stage assignment, the consultant is expected to undertake an evaluation of what the CEDC calls the business ecosystem, including an assessment of available land and commercial space; conduct an evaluation of infrastructure to determine capacity to support future needs; and review best practices for industrial land development in other cities, including land price comparisons with Thunder Bay.
It will also prioritize "viable" growth opportunities, analyze any barriers and identify the highest growth sector potential with recommendations for action in the short, medium and long term.
In addition, the CEDC wants to explore whether an industrial Community Improvement Plan should be established.
Stage two of the project will result in a five-year plan incorporation recommendations from the first phase, and will see the consultant working with CEDC's management team to determine what's actionable within specific timelines.
"We want this to be a positive thing. I think the city has been really focused on growth, and this is part of the equation here...This is to better our community," Taylor said.
