The province has taken notice of North Bay.
The city was recently featured as the first Regional Spotlight, which is part of an ongoing online publication being run by Invest Ontario.
The Regional Spotlight aims to focus on a “unique region” of the province and showcase what makes it special from a business and lifestyle standpoint.
Mayor Al McDonald says that the city was approached by the province to prepare a package for the feature, which highlighted the city’s focus on economic growth through the pandemic. It focussed on the Norgalv manufacturing plant currently being built by South African investors.
“It is incredible that the province is recognizing our city,” McDonald said. “North Bay is being recognized right across the country.”
This is the third publication in which North Bay has been featured recently. In September, the real estate publication, Toronto Storeys, ranked North Bay as the most affordable city to live in Ontario. Site Selection magazine also ranked North Bay as one of the top 20 areas in Canada to do business in.
McDonald admits that the recent attention the city has received is due in part to its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, with city staff continuing its marketing strategies despite the new challenges.
“We haven’t taken our foot off the gas – we’ve been working very hard through the pandemic. People are starting to recognize that we didn’t pause, we were ready to go and we wanted to grow our city,” he said.
While the city is getting attention as a place to live and do business, McDonald is also proud of the region’s overall handling of COVID-19. The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has recorded 40 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with no current active cases in the area.
“We’re seen as a very safe place to live, a great place to do business and just the serious tone that our community takes on following all the COVID protocols that have kept our city one of the lowest in the province has really shone a light on us that the province is starting to notice,” McDonald noted.
And with the accolades received from the recent publications, the mayor says that there is still more work to be done to bring people into the city.
“You can never stop communications and marketing when you’re out there because every other city is fighting for their piece of the pie. We can at least hold up the last three publications as an example of we’re being noticed,” McDonald finished.
