Film industry, health care identified as developing sectors in Niagara's economy - St. Catharines Standard

Inspire, invest, grow — those are the watchwords of a 10-year economic development strategy unveiled by Niagara Economic Development last week.

“Today’s an important day for economic development as we present the region’s long-term economic development strategy,” the director of Niagara Economic Development, George Spezza, told Niagara Region’s planning and economic development committee.

“It takes a visionary look at Niagara and aims to put actions in place to achieve a strong and sustainable economy into the future.

“The development of the strategy was very much a collaborative Team Niagara effort with all the local area municipalities participating in the process.”

Staff that worked on the report also conducted extensive outreach and engagement with the community and business groups, partners and regional councillors, as well as more than 500 respondents who provided comments and feedback, Spezza said.

The strategy took 10 months to develop and builds on the Region’s strategic plan for supporting businesses and economic growth, a report to council said.

It contains six strategic directions:

• Sector development;

• Diversity, equity and inclusion;

• Education and workforce support;

• Business retention and expansion;

• Green development and sustainability;

• Infrastructure and transportation.

Two documents accompanied the report for regional councillors — a strategy summary for the broader Niagara community and business groups and a more detailed 39-page strategy report. Data from 2019, the last reliable year before COVID-19, was used.

Valerie Kuhns, associate director for Niagara Economic Development, said councillors wanted the strategy developed without an external consultant and a unique Niagara-made approach.

The effort will include sector development and support for four traditional areas: agriculture, manufacturing, professional services and tourism.

In addition, Niagara Economic Development identified five emerging sectors in Niagara, including the film industry, health care, the marine sector, electric vehicles and sports tourism.

“The region has much to offer the film industry in terms of unique locations across all municipalities, and we are seeing growing interest that translates into jobs, industry support, municipal fees and increased tourism,” Kuhns said.

“The Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games establishes capacity in the region to attract, organize and run large sporting events in the future, contributing to the growing sector of sports tourism. The time is right to consider positioning sport as an economic driver as part of the active economy.”

Health care also has the potential to become a hub in the future, with a new investment plan for West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby and the future south Niagara hospital in Niagara Falls, in addition to the comparatively recent St. Catharines hospital,” Kuhns said.

The strategy takes a long-term view of priorities and actions needed to achieve a strong and sustainable economy while outlining what actions will guide the work of Niagara Economic Development, the report to council said.

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Most of the actions go beyond the critical functions of regional economic development. They were developed in collaboration with the local area municipal development officials as well as the broader community and business groups, and each action is given a specific timeline according to its priority level.

Economic development officer Linda Sicoli said the effort on diversity, equity and inclusion aims at encouraging the growth of businesses owned by diverse individuals and supports the integration of newcomers, women, youth and Indigenous peoples into the labour force.

That can be accomplished by providing input and advocacy for employees in areas such as the provision of regional transit, affordable and available childcare and affordable housing.

“We hope to increase participation in the labour force from these under-represented groups,” Sicoli said.

Ken Scholtens, manager of business development at Niagara Economic Development, said the department is focused on diversifying Niagara’s different sectors.

“We are looking at how we can grow some of our emerging sectors being identified in our economy right now,” Scholtens said. “We’ve identified several emerging sectors that I think can only benefit Niagara to be more diversified in its economy as we move forward.”

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Film industry, health care identified as developing sectors in Niagara's economy - St. Catharines Standard
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