The hashtag #GrowOurCity has accompanied many of the social media messages from members of the delegation representing the City of North Bay at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa this week.
Mayor Al McDonald said the support of this council has not gone unnoticed when it comes to facilitating economic development. “There is no question that growth is the mandate of the council and they’re behind it, and the community’s behind it because it’s creating jobs.”
The delegation in the nation’s capital took some time to step away from the AMO conference to visit the offices of Shopify, a web-based marketplace for goods.
The field trip from the meetings at the conference site was arranged and McDonald spoke of the tour before leaving town.
“We want to look at what they’re doing, best practices, is there an opportunity for us down the road if there’s an expansion,” explained McDonald.
Councillor Marcus Tignanelli gave a positive review of the experience at Shopify via Facebook. “We appreciated the insight and future opportunities for North Bay. I firmly believe governments can be innovative, it takes the leadership to get us there. As the future of work changes in the private world, the public sector must adapt to retain and attract creative and disruptive talent.”
McDonald said the whole point of the Shopify excursion was to explore whether there are “other areas we can take a look at from a City perspective on creating employment or new businesses in North Bay.”
