Diversification cornerstone of future growth.Rather than wait for the axe to drop, the Town of Espanola has surveyed the northern landscape to gain a greater understanding of what becomes of one-industry towns that have grown too reliant on a major company to be the town's major breadwinner bread·win·ner n. One whose earnings are the primary source of support for one's dependents. bread·win  ning n. . Residents in Espanola, known as a fairly affluent and economically stable community, had been resistant to change until major up-heavals in the forest sector resulted in mill closures in many communities across Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it . With no other source of major manufacturing to lean on, attitudes have gradually changed, and Espanola residents have grown anxious for economic diversification and job creation, and want to see secondary industry attracted to the town. For years, Espanola, with a population of 5,449, has served as a regional centre, situated at a sort of crossroads on Highway 6 running south to Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island is a Canadian island in Lake Huron, the world's largest freshwater lake island. Geography and geology With an area of 2,766 km² (1,068 square miles), it is the 174th largest island in the world, and Canada's 31st largest island. and near Highway 17 between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie Sault Sainte Marie — pronounced "Soo Saint Marie" (IPA /su seɪnt məˈɹi/) — is the name of two cities on the Saint Marys River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada. . As a gateway to the island, it has attracted more than its share of retail growth in recent years by attracting brand name franchise stores and fast-food outlets. Expanding on that sector, in an effort to be positioned as the commercial-retail service hub on what's known as the Manitoulin-LaCloche area, is one of the premises of Espanola's two-year-old economic development strategy. "Anybody coming off Manitoulin has to go through our community," says Eleethea Marson, Espanola's community economic development officer. "We're centrally located. It's a half-hour drive to Manitoulin Island, halfhour to Sauble-Spanish River and 20 minutes to Nairn Centre," representing a catchment area catchment area or drainage basin, area drained by a stream or other body of water. The limits of a given catchment area are the heights of land—often called drainage divides, or watersheds—separating it from neighboring drainage of about 40,000 inhabitants
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. . Like many other northern communities, the town faces challenges with youth out-migration and proximity to market, but observationally, they are finding real economic growth in small, home-based business. As part of their efforts to grow residential, industrial, tourism and retail-commercial development, community leaders have adopted a business retention and expansion program as part of their new strategic plan. One of the recommendations from that program was taking advantage of legislative changes in the provincial Municipal Act to encourage small-business growth by allowing businesses to be registered, free of charge, instead of the fee structure of licensing. Based on survey feedback during the strategic plan process, the town opted to begin the process of accessing funding to hire a business development officer. Though their research indicates most job creation comes from existing business, Espanola is also looking to attract outside companies by marketing the town through tradeshows and trade publications to extract promising investment leads. One priority item is developing greenfield industrial space. As part of their business attraction strategy, land negotiations are ongoing to set aside about 100 acres in the community's south end as a light industrial park for value-added wood products, preferably complementary to Domtar's operation. But Marson says the town is receptive to any kind of incoming manufacturing, warehouse depot or distribution operation. "We're fairly open," Marson says. "Domtar has been an excellent resource in terms of developing our strategy ... they're very community-minded and support what the town's been doing." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With an environmental assessment completed, town officials are awaiting a final engineering report for the park and costs for the property, which sits behind some existing industrial space on McCullough Street. They are hopeful of a spring groundbreaking to begin laying water and sewer infrastructure. "We have two letters of intent from businesses (one local, one within the region) looking to locate in the park, so it is really favourable for moving forward." In taking stock of their community over the last two years, Espanola has also sought to spruce up spruce up Verb [sprucing, spruced] to make neat and smart Verb 1. spruce up - make neat, smart, or trim; "Spruce up your house for Spring"; "titivate the child" its image dominated physically and pungently by Domtar Inc. "We did recognize two years ago that we had an external image problem," says Marson. "I mean there are lots of pulp and paper mills in Northern Ontario, but for whatever reason we have been tagged the stinky town. "Really we don't," she playfully reminds everyone. "We've changed our bleaching process. What we've tried to do is not embrace the smell, but embrace the fact the mill is here and that it does have a significant impact on our community and we developed a corporate branding Corporate branding is the practice of using a company's name as a product brand name. It is an attempt to leverage corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition. It is a type of family branding or umbrella brand. around it." Instead of fighting the image of the mill that dominates the town's skyline, Espanola unveiled a new corporate logo with a stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. 'E' and slogan--A Fine Paper Town--and has been creating marketing tools, a community profile, tourism brochures and a tradeshow booth featuring the new look. Marson believes the image is starting to grow on townsfolk. Tourism represents future growth potential, Marson says. Already blessed with an abundance of snowmobile trails in the Manitoulin-LaCloche area and sport fishing on the Spanish River Spanish River A river, about 241 km (150 mi) long, of southern Ontario, Canada, flowing generally south to Lake Huron. , the landscape provides "huge opportunities" for packaging and developing ecotourism e·co·tour·ism n. Tourism involving travel to areas of natural or ecological interest, typically under the guidance of a naturalist, for the purpose of observing wildlife and learning about the environment. products, Marson says. Town staff is examining various opportunities, and working with neighbouring communities, including Sauble-Spanish, Nairn Centre and Baldwin to build an information centre. The community has seen some public investment with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. spending $2.4 million through the province's Superbuild program towards the addition of 32 long-term care beds at Espanola General Hospital. The project, expected to be complete by March 2004, should create about 20 full-time jobs. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is a division of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in the Canadian province of Ontario, whose purpose is to provide funding and program support to foster economic development in the economically disadvantaged Northern Ontario region. contributed a total of $619,575 to the town this year to reconstruct Tudhope Street, a main artery, and to make upgrades to the municipal water system and enable the library and recreation complex to be handicapped accessible. The water treatment plant will be upgraded with $67,000 earmarked by Industry Canada Industry Canada is the department of the Government of Canada with responsibility for regional economic development, investment, and innovation/research and development. The department employs 6104 FTEs across Canada. and Superbuild for post-chlorination and standby chemical feed systems. On the retail front, Giant Tiger Giant Tiger Stores Limited is a Canadian discount store in Canada (and one in the United States) founded on May 13, 1961, by Gordon Reid, who served as the Chairman and CEO. Reid opened his first store in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. is relocating, expanding the business, and is currently constructing a larger store on Highway 6 in Espanola. www.town.espanola.on.ca www.manitoulinlacloche.com RELATED ARTICLE: Espanola Population 5,449 Top Employer Domtar Top Five Private Employers Domtar, Winkles Your Independent Grocer Your Independent Grocer is a supermarket chain based in Ontario, Canada. It is a unit of National Grocers, itself a unit of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor. Stores are typically operated by a franchise owner. , Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Home Hardware, Area of size of community 82.37 square kilometres Industrial parks- Feasibility complete, Engineering and Environmental Assessment near completion. Cost per acre yet to be determined. Currently, preparing applications for both Federal and Provincial Funding. Municipal Tax (base average)- $1530.23 for 2003 Land Value-average of $15,000 for a serviced infilled lot. By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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