In about four to six weeks North Bay city council should be in a position to officially form the Economic Development Corporation. The development corporation would be non-profit so it can access senior government funds.
Mayor Al McDonald says that’s one advantage and another is it’s not tied down with red tape. The corporation’s board of directors will have members with world-wide contacts and McDonald says that’s a big local advantage.
The mayor says instead of waiting for these businesses to contact the city, the corporation will have pursuit teams to go after them. McDonald says development corporations are relatively new.
Counting North Bay, only about 12 exist but in about five years he’s expecting 50 cities to have the agencies. It means for now North Bay has a slight advantage over other cities but that’s won’t last so it has to be aggressive in its pursuit of various sectors.
The local corporation is expected to go after sectors like aviation, aerospace, IT, healthcare and advance manufacturing.
