North Bay businesses are being invited to offer their input on how the city can help them remain competitive and grow.
The city announced on Oct. 4 it would conduct interviews, surveys and on-site visits as part of a business retention and expansion (BR+E) initiative to support local businesses.
The program is being supported with $42,000 in provincial funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp.
“It’s important that we listen to and support our business community. This program will help to retain jobs and promote new hiring and expansion,” said Mayor Al McDonald in an Oct. 4 news release. “It’s through partnerships and investments like this that we will be positioned to grow our community.”
The city said its economic development department would lead the initiative, which is part of a larger overall growth strategy for the city.
The city recently approved a three-year moratorium on residential development charges.
“This program is key because approximately 85 per cent of job growth comes from local businesses,” said Coun. Dave Mendicino in the release. “We will be targeting 250 businesses to participate in the program and we would not be able to undertake this number of visits without the support of our community partners.”
Businesses interested in participating should contact the BR+E coordinator, Fran Hanover, at 705-474-0400, ext. 2424.
