City positions itself to spur private sector growth: Industrial marketing strategy among key components of Sault's strategic plan.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Sault Ste. Marie Special Report

No disrespect to David Letterman, but the City of Sault Ste. Marie has compiled its own Top Ten List. But instead of cheap laughs, they are out to create viable long-term jobs by encouraging private-sector growth And promoting a "business investment ready" environment.

After spending the last two years taking stock of themselves with what the city has to offer in established businesses, manufacturing processes and expertise, general infrastructure and research and development capabilities, they have decided to bundle all their projects together under one strategy document.

With government funding agencies being more tight-fisted than ever with their development dollars, Bruce Strapp, the Sault's president and CEO of the economic development corporation, says the city needs to present a document to government outlining a cohesive plan for economic growth.

"Every funding agency wants to know what your community strategy is to support a particular project, and we have to demonstrate how it all fits together within a growth mandate strategy and how it creates jobs," says Strapp.

The community's input through the labourious Building an Extraordinary Community process gave them a slew of project ideas they felt the city needed to pursue. A growth mandate steering committee struck by the city last January came up with 10 theme areas to identify and review those projects and choose a more focussed course of action to attract new and complimentary business to the city.

Some of the theme areas include: securing provincial funding for a new hospital and long-term care centre; supporting SuperBuild applications and the construction of an academic-based information technology program; growing the city as a telematics centre; growing tourism and overnight stays; devising strategies to lobby government on each project; supporting and developing a new business environment; attracting and growing business; promoting more positive attitudes toward growth; building on more international growth initiatives; and preserving existing jobs.

One of the more important components in the project list is an industrial marketing strategy in chasing after North American-wide opportunities in value-added steel and forestry, aircraft repair and maintenance, and biotechnology in forest-related companies spun off from the world-class federal and provincial forest research institutes in the Sault.

They intend to hire industrial sector specialists to get out and "pound the...