The 4^th in the series of symposia on the NEW ECONOMY SUDBURY was held at the Sudbury Farmer’s Market Square on October 17, 2002. The first of the series was held on October 10, 2001.

For a complete description and overview of the entire series, you are invited to visit the web site at www.neweconomysudbury.com.

Mr. Scott Merrifield, Director of Policy for Fednor, one of the sponsors of the NEW ECONOMY SUDBURY, identified the promotion of strong communication and dialogue between the various sectors of the community as a most important function of the symposium series. He pointed out that Sudbury was one of several cities in the province chosen for this type of project and he was especially impressed with the progress the group had made. He indicated that the problems identified in Sudbury were similar to those identified elsewhere in the province, however, it may take more of an effort in this area to correct those problems.

Ms. Maureen Luoma, Executive Director of Downtown Sudbury, welcomed the participants to the Farmers’ Market and provided an overview of the history of the facility. She indicated that there were now over 50 vendors offering their goods in the Farmers’ market, which opened in July 2001. The site was used to host the Gala Opening Reception for Cinefest 2002 and the New Economy symposium was the first business reception held at the Market.

Austin Davey, a Director of the Downtown Sudbury Committee and a member of City Council, briefly addressed the audience to congratulate the TD Bank for its support in the development of cities across Ontario. He reminded the group that in the beginning NEW ECONOMY SUDBURY had a downtown focus, but the organizers soon realized that a strong downtown core goes hand-in-hand with a strong overall community. Thus the mission became all encompassing, looking at the economic development of the entire Greater Sudbury Area.

Real Fortin, Co-Chair of the Committee, reviewed the mission statements and explained what the New Economy Initiative was all about. Among other things, the organizers wanted to reach entrepreneurial minded people in both government and the private sector. They were looking for innovators who were willing to take risks, but who were also very concerned about the future of the community. He stated that it is crucial that we gather people from the private, non-profit and public sectors and then let them lead and create economic development.

"We can no longer allow positive thinking and positive speaking to cloak reality," explained Fortin in an emotional and inspiring address. "It is time to replace the ‘study mentality’ with ‘action mentality’."

"We’ve spent too long talking about our issues and concerns. Now we must do something to correct the problems and generate the economy," he went on.

He concluded his brief overview by reminding the audience that, "Social and economic indicators have revealed that Sudbury is a community in distress, with a very serious image problem."

Once of the challenges facing the Greater Sudbury Area is finding a way to change the trend of decreasing population.

"With the new economy comes increased mobility, especially among young people," explained Burleton. "Individuals are mobile and tend to go to places where the employment opportunities are greatest. This is one of the reasons why young people are leaving the Sudbury area."

He pointed out that because the young people of the Greater Sudbury Area have the impression that there are more job and career opportunities in Southern Ontario and elsewhere, they have generally stopped looking at options locally. It is clear that there is a real need by local businesses and industries to replace retiring employees, so there is plenty of opportunity in the GSA. What is needed is a greater awareness among young people of the options that are available to them in this region. In addition, by making young people living outside the Greater Sudbury Area more aware of these opportunities, we may also be able to reverse the flow and actually attract young people ‘into’ the area.

In relation to the first issue above, Sudbury still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. As long as this is the situation, young people will move out of the region, and it is unlikely that others will move in since they tend to migrate to where the job opportunities are best. Therefore, in order to keep our young people in the area, and thus increase the population, it is imperative that the youth are made aware of the job and career opportunities which are in the area. With an enhanced awareness level, it is quite likely that graduates will look closely at developing careers within the Greater Sudbury Area. As it stands now, many leave to begin careers elsewhere when they could have remained within the present community for the same career.

According to Burleton, "Sudbury is home to several first class educational institutions and research centers. Building the economy around the post-secondary institutions will be vital to your success in the future. It is time to enhance the image of the community and the educational opportunities to outside regions. Partnerships with the private sector will enable the institutions to prosper and grow."

One of the ways to stimulate interest in the local post-secondary educational institutions it to make local secondary school students more aware of the advantages of attending a local school. In addition, by promoting the Sudbury post-secondary institutions to the Southern Ontario market, it is quite likely that students from the Barrie and Toronto area will consider an education in Sudbury as an alternative to the larger universities of the south. Marketing strategies must put more emphasize on the strengths of the Sudbury education facilities and make it an attractive alternative. It was indicated that this might be the right time to market the Sudbury facilities since so many students will be looking for space during the next couple of years with the ‘Double Cohort’.

Burleton pointed out that one of the difficulties in maintaining population growth in Canadian cities today is the low birth rate. He indicated that this is a problem facing the entire country. As a result, it is likely that immigrants will be encouraged to locate in Canada in order to enable us to maintain a comfortable population growth. Since the Greater Sudbury Area is bilingual and has an international flavour to begin with, this may be an area where immigrants will feel welcome and will consider when settling in. He stated that we should continue to promote the diverse nature of our population as a major strength of living in the area. This may encourage immigrants to locate in the Greater Sudbury Area and have a positive impact on the population.

It was demonstrated that Sudbury already has a number of vibrant, identifiable clusters. We should now be focusing on the strongest ones and building upon them. Successful cities do not try to be the best at everything. They try to develop their strengths. In Sudbury, the top cluster is the Mining and the Mine Service industry. This just so happens to be the most productive industry in Canada at this time. While the rest of the economy is showing modest growth, the non-energy mining industry is showing rapid expansion over the past several years and shows no sign of letting up. This means that Sudbury is positioned well for the future. What is needed now is to develop an increased awareness of this position and give people reason to move to the area to set up related businesses.

It was almost refreshing to discover that the Greater Sudbury Area is not alone in the challenges it is facing. Other regions are facing similar challenges and issues. For example, sustaining economic growth; addressing infrastructure shortcomings; maintaining a strong and viable downtown core; insufficient revenue sources, and; operating cost pressures are not unique to Sudbury.

On the other hand, Sudbury will have more of a challenge to overcome the difficulties because of its poor image and severe out-migration of its youth. Improving the image of the community and slowing down the out-migration will result in extremely positive results due to the inherent strengths of the mining industry. The challenge now is to take action before it is too late.

In concluding, Burleton praised the community for developing a Smart Community Plan and a Long-Term Economic Development Strategy. He said that these are good steps.

He also indicated that the role FEDNOR is playing cannot be taken for granted. This organization is a very important stakeholder and must continue to play a vital role in the development plans.

Finally, he stated that the city must engage the private sector to draw upon its financial resources and strategic expertise. The Greater Halifax Partnership shows that cooperation between public and private sectors pays off when it comes to marketing and promoting a region.

"People of Sudbury obviously realize that something must be done. Change is needed in order to move confidently into the future," Burleton concluded. "The health of the community is paramount to the success of the local companies, so it is in the best interests of the private sector to become active partners with the government and non-profit sectors. Sudbury has a good, solid base to build upon. Not it is up to you to work together to realize your goals."

Dr. David Robinson delivered a progress report on the Sudbury situation in October 2001, and he began this report by stating, "Not much has changed in the past 12 months. We have had the highest employment growth in the country and our labour force has grown at a higher rate than anywhere in the country, but we are still last in the province in terms of unemployment and labour force participation."

Robinson then went on to state that we have been missing a golden opportunity in Sudbury - one that has been with us all along.

"Sudbury is the only mining city in the entire country. We are unique in the country in this respect, yet we are not developing this niche in the market," explained Robinson. "Based on conservative projections, we could see as many as 20,000 new jobs created in the Mining Supply and Service sector in the Greater Sudbury Region in the next ten years. We have well over 300 businesses which depend on INCO and Falconbridge Mines. These generate primary and secondary income sources which stimulate the entire economy. And many of the jobs are high tech jobs which require training and provide high income for employees."

Robinson pointed out that "diversification" was the policy in the 60's and 70's. With that policy, Cities were encouraged to abandon their strengths and develop other areas in order to become much like other successful cities. "Every government agency has now adopted the cluster approach to economic development. They are now telling us to focus on our strengths and develop them. The goal now is to create Sudbury as the Mining Centre for Canada and to market that image to the outside world."

Real Fortin then took the stage to provide a retrospective of our accomplishments of the past 12 months and give some direction for the future.

He pointed out that four main clusters have been identified in the Greater Sudbury Area. These include:

To this he added a fifth cluster under the heading of "Image".

"We must now promote all of these clusters, not only internally, but externally as well." Fortin declared. "It is time to challenge the status quo. We have to incite local activities and competition."

Fortin also indicated that the biggest problem we face today is in the development of our image. "We must first of all market ourselves to the people living right here in the City of Sudbury. Once we convince people that we are worth it, we will develop this positive image to outsiders."

The past twelve months have indicated clearly that in order to achieve our goals of job creation; wealth creation; and youth retention; we must enhance our image, encourage innovation, and build on our strengths.