Co-operation is the new watchword among economic developers across Canada
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, the old saying goes, and increasingly that phrase applies to the country's economic developers.
Instead of trying to steal business from rival cities or pit regions against each other, development officials across the country are working together because, they say, even if a new business doesn't end up in your town, ultimately everyone benefits from overall economic growth.
''When we go out and market, we promote Toronto, but obviously we know it benefits the whole of the [Greater Toronto] region when we do that. When we get leads and investment inquiries, sometimes they don't land here, they end up in Mississauga or Markham, but that's okay because the banks and the engineers and the lawyers here get business out of it,'' says Brenda Librecz, executive director of economic development for the City of Toronto.
''We don't have a hang-up about that as long as we land them, and the business stays in Canada.''
Prince George is one of many communities in British Columbia attempting to diversify its forest-based economy by wooing call centre operations. However, Ken Veldman, vice-president of Initiatives Prince George, a municipally owned economic development corporation, says the competition between B.C. communities ''isn't as cut-throat as you might think,'' because the municipalities are actually working together.
''We [the competing communities] all put some money in a pot, got some additional funding from the provincial government and brought in Telus as a private-sector partner,'' says Mr. Veldman. ''In terms of generating and developing the initial leads, this co-operative marketing scheme that we called Links B.C. did a lot of the initial grinding -- going to trade shows, developing links and getting in contact with site selectors to bring an initial lead into the province.''
Once a company decided it was interested in establishing a call centre in the province, ''the different communities put their best foot forward and the competition began,'' Mr. Veldman says.
The process led to Prince George landing its first call centre, Live Bridge, which began operations last September. British Columbia's time zone makes it a good place for call centres to operate because a worker can begin a shift at 2 p.m. Pacific time and ''start calls to the East Coast and work their way west across the country'' before the shift ends at 9 p.m., he says.
On Prince Edward Island, there are more golf courses than freckles on a certain red-headed orphan's nose, and the province has been trumpeting those links in a prominent promotional campaign emphasizing the island's lifestyle.
But Mike Thususka, director of economic development for the city of Summerside, says tourism and an agreeable lifestyle are only part of what the province has to offer. That's why the city is conducting its own Summerside Connection development campaign to complement the provincial one.
It seeks to encourage ex-Islanders who come back for vacations to establish joint ventures with existing Summerside businesses.
''Certainly quality of life is one aspect of economic development on PEI but, quite honestly, I think we've beat it to death. We're trying to show people and companies that you can do business here, you can succeed, you can have a productive, loyal workforce and make money, bottom line,'' says Mr. Thususka.
Specifically, the city is targeting the aerospace industry, one of the fastest-growing sectors of the PEI economy and now representing 20 per cent of total provincial exports.
The industry is centred on the site of a mustered-out airforce base, formerly CFB Summerside, now a provincially owned 1,500-acre aerospace industrial park called Slemon Park.
It includes an airport with two runways and hangars ranging in size from 25,000 to 300,000 square feet and houses companies including Honeywell Engines and Systems, Atlantic Turbines International Inc., Testori Americas, Wieble Aerospace, CAE Inc., Helipro International Inc., and Tube-Fab.
Mr. Thususka says some homegrown companies are also starting to export their products and services to the U.S. eastern seaboard, including the structural steel division of a local home improvement firm, called Schurman's Steel, that has landed contracts in New England to supply steel for things like school construction.
''The challenge that Prince Edward Island faces is that people don't necessarily equate Prince Edward Island and business,'' says Mr. Thususka. ''They see it as a vacation destination. But since the opening of the bridge, I would suggest that mindset is slowly starting to change and we're starting to break down those barriers -- even within the Maritimes ourselves.''
Persuading the locals is often the hardest part of an economic developer's job. When Saskatchewan launched its three-year Wide Open Future promotional campaign last fall, the first people it attempted to sell on the opportunities the province has to offer were those who already live and work there.
A three-week radio and television campaign last November aimed at local residents taught 20 per cent of citizens something new about the province, according to a post-campaign survey, says Debbie Wilkie, executive director of corporate resources for the Saskatchewan industry resources ministry.
Among 18- to 24-year-olds -- a demographic the province is trying to keep from moving out of Saskatchewan -- nearly 50 per cent said they had learned new things. Moreover, 11 per cent said their attitudes toward the province had been changed for the better.
As well, the $150,000 spent on a similar out-of-province media campaign generated $200,000 worth of unpaid media coverage and calls from companies saying it had made them think differently about the province. ''They suggested that Saskatchewan hadn't been on the radar before.''
Soon officials will take their message outside the country. Officials will promote the province's position as a key player in the worldwide agriculture biotech industry, its natural gas and mineral resources, and showcase the research opportunities that will be created when the stadium-sized synchrotron is turned on in January, 2004, on the University of Saskatchewan campus.
A synchrotron produces extremely bright light, which scientists can use to see the microscopic nature of matter. Potential uses, according to government promotional material, will be to design new drugs, develop more effective motor oils, build more powerful computer chips and assist in the clean-up of mining wastes.
More than 200 jobs will be created once the $238.5-million project -- Canada's biggest scientific research facility in more than 30 years -- is up and running.
''It will benefit the whole country, not just Saskatchewan,'' says Ms. Wilkie. ''There's a lot going on here that no one knows about, including our own people. So we had to make them aware of it first.''
© The Globe and Mail
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