A 10 year Economic Vision for the City of Greater Sudbury Adopted by Council

Nov 3, 2015

The City of Greater Sudbury is prepared to embark on a new path to prosperity with the Council’s adoption of an updated economic development strategic plan for the coming decade. “From the Ground Up” incorporates extensive research and community consultation to build on Greater Sudbury’s potential as an economic climate that generates significant employment opportunities, attracts education and talent and provides a high quality of life.

“Congratulations to the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation and to the volunteer community representatives who served on the Strategic Plan Steering Committee,” said Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger. “On behalf of Council, I extend sincere thanks and appreciation to citizens who took the time to share their feedback throughout the public consultation process.”

More than 2,300 citizens participated in roundtable discussions, kitchen table community meetings, youth outreach, social media networks, community pop-ups, and online surveys over an eight week period earlier this year.

Events to engage the community in local economic potential will continue with a “Resourceful City Speaker Series” that will focus on goals and priorities of the strategic plan. The first speaker of the series is, Dr. Rui Wang, Laurentian University’s Vice President of Research, who will focus on research and innovation, during a presentation on Monday, November 23, beginning at 5:00 p.m. in the concert hall of Collège Boréal.

Strategic Plan Steering Committee Co-Chairs Dr. Darren Stinson and Jim Marchbank expressed their thanks to the community during the presentation of the economic strategy to Council on Tuesday evening.

“It would not have been possible to create a new plan for economic development without the support of our Steering Committee, the dedicated Economic Development Staff and to the residents of our community,” said Dr. Stinson, who is also Chair of the GSDC Board of Directors.

“We remain committed to working closely with community members in a collective and cooperative effort to make the City of Greater Sudbury one of the most desirable places to live, work, play and invest,” said Mr. Marchbank, who served as a community representative on the Committee.

The community economic development plan strengthens the community’s direction and focus, while working towards an ambitious vision of employment growth and continued economic diversification. It also reflects the key themes and emerging trends outlined through the community consultation process such opportunities for collaboration, investment, creating a highly skilled  and creative workforce, continuing to be a welcoming and open community and an increased focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.

An annual “scorecard” will be produced and distributed by the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation to track progress on each key theme and to report to the community.

“From the Ground Up” is available online at www.investsudbury.ca/fromthegroundup and is also available in paper copy format at local libraries.

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