Sudbury: Viewpoints over city's future clash. (Sudbury).

Sudbury may appear as a city on-the-go to envious outsiders in northeastern Ontario, but do not tell that to local businessman Real Fortin.

He views Sudbury as an economically stagnant giant resting on its laurels, void of vision, with a litany of underlying problems.

While other single-industry towns' and cities' problems and struggles to achieve greater diversification are worse than Sudbury's, Fortin's own benchmark for the community is much higher.

"Compared to other northern cities, we're diversified, but not that diversified, compared to a Winnipeg or a Toronto," Fortin says.

He believes the city must reshape its international image, fully exploit its strengths and better use its leverage as the unofficial capital of northeastern Ontario.

Fortin draws this conclusion from a socioeconomic study released last year by Laurentian University researchers which paints a bleak picture of a 'city in distress' with inadequate health-care services, one of the highest unemployment rates in Ontario, limited job prospects, an aging population and a growing exodus of young people leaving town.

Sudbury may have its share of "struggles," just like any other northern community, but Helen Mulc, manager of business development at the Regional Business Centre, says she disagrees with the negativity and the bleak outlook some business owners have adopted.

"We keep talking about all of the bad things...sometimes we're our worst enemies," Mulc says. "But the proof is in the pudding. At the business centre we're still seeing a steady stream of people taking the leap, wanting to grow and expand their business."

Investment in high-speed broadband infrastructure has only served to enhance the selling points of the city, she adds.

"We're out selling the community, visiting companies that utilize technology, develop software...and these people are telling us they have heard about Sudbury and what Sudbury has to offer," Mulc says.

Feedback from companies that have been established in Sudbury over the past three years is also encouraging. Many have pointed out they are "thrilled" to be located in Sudbury, she says.

The turnout at last years' "celebrating young entrepreneurs event," held during Small Business Week, only reaffirmed her belief in the direction the city is headed.

When the event was in the planning stages, many people questioned the city's ability to find enough young entrepreneurs in Sudbury. City officials were surprised with the outcome.

"We ended up finding 120 young entrepreneurs," Mulc says. "There's a whole group of individuals who have invested in the community, and believe in the community."

The announcement of the northern medical school "is also significant and places Sudbury on the map," Mulc adds. The medical school opens doors of opportunity to develop an entire life sciences industry in the city, she says.

Fortin, a senior partner at a downtown marketing firm and co-chairman of the New Economy Sudbury Symposium series, observes a general malaise among Sudbury's population and a lack of community-wide leadership.

That is why, as part of a federally funded pilot project through the Ontario Competitive City Regions Corp., (OCCR) he has listened to gripes and ideas aired by individual business people as to what it will take to jump-start the local economy. In taking a big-picture look at the community, the group, comprised of business owners, realtors and educators, intends to map out a new economic development action plan for Sudbury to get behind.

Last January, Sudbury was selected as one of three communities in Ontario by the Competitve City Regions Partnership. The other two communities include Ottawa and Peterborough. The intent of the OCCR partnership is to support the efforts of civic leaders, educators and the private sector to develop strategies for regional growth.

With a sense of urgency, Fortin places the onus squarely on the shoulders of the private sector to come forward, voice their complaints and then get on board to set about developing some innovative job-creation strategies.

Fortin says the way to go is to create "cluster" developments centred around mining and manufacturing technologies, life sciences, information technology, education, shopping and tourism, pinpointing products, services and expertise to export.

The community must further find a way to give life to the downtown, which reflects "the health of the city itself," by creating apartment units for seniors and singles and encouraging small entities in the service industry market to locate in the core.

Carrie Vescio, Human Resources Development Canada regional economist for Northern Ontario, has not adopted Fortin's pessimistic viewpoint.

While not disputing the university research, Vescio believes Sudbury should not sell itself short in areas concerning the declining education level of its population. She sees great growth opportunities ahead primarily in the educational sector, mentioning the new northern medical school and the "bricks and mortar" additions at College Boreal and Cambrian College's $25-million SuperBuild project to add more classrooms, laboratory and technology.