It was a pleasure for me to be one of three members of the Millier Dickinson Blais team who were in Janvier, Alberta, on Saturday, October 15th to help clean up a burnt down elder/youth centre. Joined by the helping hands and backs of five others, and with Steve at the controls of his Case Hammer 90XT, the dumpster was full in no time and the steel to be salvaged was set aside.  The site is now almost back to its original self and the pilings remaining for a future effort at rebuilding if the community so chooses.

Negativity can be found in every place that my work takes me. It is very difficult for communities, especially those who have been impacted so negatively by outside forces for so long, to see that individuals can make a difference for the good. It is my belief that local empowerment is the only way to long-term sustained community growth.

While we continue to work with the people of Janvier on more systemic issues, we are hopeful that this one effort of cleaning up a symbol of negativity will help them move on to feeling more proud of their community and more hopeful for its future.

If you would like to know more about Janvier click here.

We spend a lot of time in our line of work reading reports, publications and articles that detail the trends and opportunities for provincial, national and international economic growth and trying to connect these findings with what is possible and realistic in a community at any given time.

What concerns me the most about the discussion that emerges is the degree to which some economic development professionals across Canada and the United States have tried to formularize economic development, as if this line of work could ever be seen as a one size fits all or trendy. Just think about the number of communities that have argued for incentive programs to attract industry, attract a post secondary campus, develop a technology research park or implement an industry cluster strategy.

A recent article in the Washington Post entitled Industry Clusters: The Modern Day Snake Oil brings home this discussion. The article talks about how the formula for clusters is always the same – pick a hot industry, build a technology park next to a university or college, provide incentives to relocate, add some venture capital money and watch the magic happen. The problem is that the magic never seems to happen and a recent survey out of Norway seems to bear this out.

The author goes on to state that if we are focused on building a knowledge economy then the prerequisite for success has to be people. Towns and cities need to concern themselves with their ability to attract and retain knowledgeable people who have the motivation and ability to start ventures. To ensure that they succeed at this effort they need to be connected to one another by information sharing networks and have an open-mindedness to foreign cultures, changes and new ideas. Nothing new to those of us that have listened to Richard Florida over the last decade, but ask yourself, do you have the kind of community that “these” knowledge workers want to live in?

What was also telling was the idea that companies that are “regionally-minded”, maintaining ties only with players within the same cluster, are four times less likely to innovate than those firms that are globally connected. This has big implications for cities and towns trying to stimulate job growth and investment.

In recent years we have spent a lot of time talking to our clients about the value that small business brings to the long term success of a communities, the need for more support for entrepreneurs, the importance of business mentors and communication networks, and the merit in quality of place over quality of life. Getting to know your business community and in particular its entrepreneurs is harder work than investment attraction, but is in my mind at least likely to pay bigger dividends to a community over the longer term.

One of my favourite radio programs is This American Life, which I often listen to as a podcast and also airs in Canada on CBC Radio One. This award-winning show combines reported stories, humorous essays and other “acts” into an hour-long show every week.

A few weeks ago, the show turned its attention to a critical issue for economic developers: “How to Create a Job”. The hour-long program asked questions all economic development professionals grapple with. How much control do governments really have over job creation? What job-creation programs actually work, and how can they be scaled up? What is the job search like in some of the most economically depressed parts of the United States?

However, the story I found most interesting centred on a visit that two This American Life reporters paid to a meeting of the International Economic Developers Council in San Diego. For those of us that have ever had the statement “I work in economic development” met with come combination of blank stares and “what’s that?”, this story is a fun, different and insightful look that might have you rethinking your approach as well. Take a listen here.

I recently came across two resources that quantify the importance of small business to the economy. Statistics Canada’s report titled The Contribution of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses to Gross Domestic Product and TD Economics Special Report titled Small Businesses will Reclaim the Driver’s Seat Behind the Economic Engine.

The authors of the Statistics Canada report estimate that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 500 employees account for 54.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Canada and 50.7% in the United States. This contribution to GDP rises further depending on the industry. For example, construction, health and accommodation industries have even larger shares of GDP among the small and medium businesses.

The authors of the TD Economic report use U.S. data and estimate that these SMEs are responsible for just under half of total employment. They further state that 85% of net job creation in the first two years of recovery when coming out of the last three recessions took place among these businesses.

Typically, SMEs serve specialized, niche markets that larger businesses cannot or choose not to compete in. SMEs can also be more flexible in production processes and are capable of offering personalized products that larger businesses cannot effectively offer, an observation echoed in the Statistics Canada Report. However, for SMEs to be truly innovative and increase production and jobs requires financing to support improvements to production processes or to create specialized products.

A key message that I gained from these resources is that as Canada and the US weave our way back through economic recovery, our local communities must have the small business support mechanisms (e.g., funding capital resources and venture capital networks) in place to foster growth in this sector of the economy.

After our tour of Downtown Kitchener, Dr. Sharpe and I had a chance to catch up at dinner. He supervised both my BA and MA theses, but it was during my MA that he offered me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conduct my field work on Baffin Island (a hint as to how long ago that was – it wasn’t Nunavut then). I spent two weeks in Iqaluit and two weeks in Pond Inlet, a hamlet of about 1,000 at the very isolated north end of the island. My research focused on how economic development policy directed by different levels of government have shaped Pond Inlet.

As dessert made the rounds, Dr. Sharpe asked me a question I had not thought about in a long time: “Tell me Paul, what did Pond Inlet mean to you?”. Huh, good question … I went about reflecting on how the beauty of the community, the Inuit family I lived with and the people in general shaped perspectives on cultural openness, the diversity of Canada, the appreciation for what I have and the love of travel that I try and espouse on to the next generation – my daughters. The answer, of course, was honest, but didn’t seem to do the experience justice.

It wasn’t until Tom, a former classmate, spoke up that I came to a realization that I’d never come to before. Tom, a devil’s advocate extraordinaire and master at driving towards maximum efficiency, asked “So did you really have to go all the way up there to write that paper – to come up with the conclusions you did?”. With that I got a lot more passionate about things, my voice rose, I leaned forward in my chair because this is what I do now as an economic development consultant. I responded that while what the data says is important and some conclusions can be drawn from it, it’s not until you get into the community and talk to people and read their body language that you begin to understand their hopes, dreams, challenges, worries and fears. What the people who care about their community think about their community.

My thesis concluded that in Pond Inlet it was the local and regional level policies and initiatives that had the most significant positive impact on the community – and now I was beginning to appreciate that Pond Inlet was where I first realized this. Without knowing then (and maybe not for nearly 20 years) Pond Inlet lit that fire which still burns in me. Pond Inlet led me to 11 years of work as a municipal economic developer because I believed I was making a difference. Pond Inlet has led me to the last 6 years of my life where I know that my clients believe they are making a difference and looking for my help in making that difference even more pronounced.

Before that Saturday I always appreciated that I had a lot to thank Dr. Sharpe for, but now I realize I have so much more to be grateful for. He gave me the match that lit the fire!

A couple of Saturdays ago I attended a celebration commemorating 50 years of geography at Wilfrid Laurier University – I obtained my BA and MA there a “few” years ago. And hey, what’s a geography get together without a field trip? I picked the tour of Downtown Kitchener led by my thesis advisor, Dr. Bob Sharpe. Anyone whose last exposure to Downtown Kitchener was a decade or longer ago should visit again and see the remarkable transformation of the core.

Spurred on by a $100+ million economic development fund, an old shoe factory has been turned into trendy lofts, coal tar has been cleaned out from the ground, there’s a new intermodal transit station and a tannery that houses hi-tech companies like Google and Communitech, one of the finest examples of business incubation anywhere. Some things still don’t look ideal, so it’s clear the transformation is still in progress, but isn’t it always? Kudos to the staff and political visionaries who could see what others couldn’t and for making a calculated investment in what is the heart and soul of their community. You can see more of the great work being done in Kitchener here, including a Downtown Kitchener project map.

In 2010 I had the great privilege of publishing Rediscovering the Wealth of Places: A Municipal Cultural Planning Handbook for Canadian Communities through Municipal World. I am pleased to say the book has received very positive reviews both in Canada and abroad and has now been sold in 6 countries.

The title of course is a play on Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. As all of us in economic development know it is cities and regions – not nations – that produce wealth. As more and more communities look to culture-led economic development as an important part of building new economic development strategies to deal with new economic times, the book is an introduction to municipal cultural planning concepts and methodologies. One important part of the book addresses cultural mapping as a systematic  approach to identifying  and leveraging a wide range of local cultural assets to suppport economic and broader community development agendas. A second strong focus is on the effective integration of culture in planning and decision-making across municipal departments.

The book contains  examples of leading practice s from Canada and abroad. It also features chapters that ‘dig deeper’ on specific themes written by some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in their fields. These include chapters from Elena Bird, David T. Brown, Susan M. Gardner, Jeannette Hanna, Gord Hume, Jennifer Keesmaat, Mark Kuznicki, Colin Mercer, and Kevin Stolarick.

The following video provides a brief introduction to the book and some of its major themes.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with the Ontario East Economic Development Corporation about our Profit Hot 50 success, economic development, eastern Ontario, and the creative economy. You can read the whole interview on the Ontario East blog.

On July 1st, 2010 Google announced it would buy ITA software, the leading source of critical air fare software used by search engines and travel sites alike, such as Hotwire and Air Canada Vacations. The question is, how will this affect the consumer?

FairSearch.org is a group of businesses united in support of a healthy Internet future, where greater consumer choice and economic growth are driven by competition, transparency and innovation in online search. This organization has taken the position that if Google were to buy ITA Software it would threaten the competitive online travel search market and could limit the competition and innovation that benefits consumers. Experts fear that if this is approved, consumers can expect to face higher prices and less choice when searching for travel online.

Some feel that acquiring ITA will give Google control over the search algorithm software that today powers most of Google’s closest rivals in the travel vertical. Additionally it is feared that this would give Google incentive to direct Internet traffic away from travel search rivals through the use of its search and search advertising dominance. Suddenly online travel companies could find themselves appearing much lower in the results list of a Google search. For more on this side of the story, take a look at this video:

The other side of the Argument

Google suggests that this transaction will create a new, easier way for users to find better flight information online which is expected to encourage more users to make their flight purchases online. They suggest that this acquisition will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agencies by making it easier for users to comparison shop for flights and airfares and by driving more potential customers to airlines’ and online travel agencies’ websites. They will not be setting airline prices and have no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers. Because Google does not currently compete against ITA Software, they suggest that the deal will not change existing market shares. To see more of the other side of the argument, watch this video:

Millier Dickinson Blais is partnering with the Economic Developer’s Council of Ontario (EDCO) in the creation of a Young Professionals Network, an exciting new venture targeted at economic development practitioners in Ontario under the age of 30 or with less than five years of professional experience. Recognizing that young professionals are often faced with difficulty entering the field and engaging with other practitioners, this network aims to provide a forum for interaction and collaboration, information sharing, and the pursuit of professional development opportunities.

To build a foundation for this new initiative, EDCO is sponsoring a launch event for the Young Professionals Network, to be held between 3:00 and 5:00 pm on February 1, 2011 at the Ontario Investment and Trade Centre in Toronto. This event will coincide with the opening of the annual EDCO conference. Leading experts from the economic development profession in Ontario will be on hand to share and discuss their experience and insight into the field. The afternoon will begin with a panel discussion and end with a number of roundtables where young professionals will be able to “ask the experts”.

Economic development experts participating in a panel discussion and the roundtables include: Dave Paul, Anya Codack, Stephen Chait, Brock Dickinson, Dave Cash, Trudy Parsons, Debbie Walker, Don Eastwood, and Liz Weaver.

This event will be a unique opportunity to explore a career in economic development and interact with the current and future leaders of the profession. If you’re under 30 or have less than five years of professional experience we invite you to join us on February 1st. For more information or to register for the free launch event, please click here. Space is limited. Any inquiries can be directed to Jordan Katz, Nirvana Micoo, or Lauren Millier from the Millier Dickinson Blais team.