BY KEITH LACEY
A group of seniors think Greater Sudbury is the ?perfect fit? for seniors from across the province to call home after they retire.
?Perfect fit? is the slogan that?s been adopted by a sub-committee of the mayor and seniors? roundtable and it is part of a new marketing campaign they hope will be adopted by the city?s economic development branch.
The idea for the campaign was presented to the sub-committee by John Gaul and his wife Brenda, who spent months looking at different
communities to live in following their recent retirement, said John Lindsay, a member of the seniors? advisory group.
?John and his wife came to one of our meetings...and told us how they found Sudbury to be the ?perfect fit? for what they were looking for in a
retirement community,? said Lindsay. ?Several of us at that meeting looked at each other as soon as that comment was made and believed it would be the perfect marketing tool to try and get more seniors to make Sudbury home after they retire.?
He expects to present the marketing campaign and slogan to Doug Nadorozny, head of economic development for Greater Sudbury, within the next
week or so.
If a small community like Elliot Lake can thrive based largely on its successful efforts to become a retirement community then Sudbury can do the same, said Lindsay.
?We are a city of lakes and sunshine, and we believe there are very few communities in this province that offer the recreation and outdoor opportunities that we have here in Greater Sudbury,? said Lindsay.
?If you live in southern Ontario and can sell your home, you can come here and pay cash for a new home and have a lot left over to enjoy your retirement years.?
Lindsay was a member of Sudbury?s Golden Opportunity group that recommended seniors be encouraged to remain in Sudbury following retirement and an attempt be made to encourage seniors from across the province to consider living here.
The seniors? roundtable has developed an advertising campaign which shows a picture of Gaul and his wife smiling outside their downtown home.
The advertisement goes on to say ?Brenda and John at their Northern Ontario retirement home, where real estate is less than half the cost of comparable properties in most major southern Ontario cities. Quality of life makes all the difference in Canada?s City of Lakes and Sunshine.?
Gaul and his wife are away on vacation and couldn?t be reached by Northern Life, but Lindsay forwarded a letter the couple presented to the roundtable recently.
The letter states ?over the past 27 years, my wife and I spent a great deal of our holiday time in Northern Ontario pursuing our interest in outdoor activities. We decided to investigate the pros and cons of moving north in order to be closer to our outdoor interests.
?We were also becoming increasingly disenchanted with the declining quality of life in southern Ontario...so we moved from Burlington to Sudbury on June 24, 2004.
?Both of us had retired just over a year previous to moving here. We are young seniors. We spent three years seriously researching our move. After investigating other cities and towns, we chose Sudbury. There was no contest.?
The Gauls further state, ?We like Sudbury?s chances of meeting the challenges that lie ahead. If all the citizens pull together, we can create a city where many people would gladly move to. It really is in our hands.?
The couple enjoy the multi-ethnic flavour of the city, its many summer festivals, Bell Park, which they describe as ?as fine a city park? as there is in Canada, the variety of restaurants and cafes, the friendly people, the relative absence of severe traffic problems and slower pace of life.
If the city?s economic development department likes the marketing campaign, a multi-media campaign is being proposed by the seniors? group, with particular emphasis on newspapers and magazines in the Muskoka region and Greater Toronto, said Lindsay.
City Councillor Ted Callaghan, chair of the mayor and seniors? roundtable, said he likes the concept of the marketing campaign and is ?confident the people in our economic development department are going to like it.?
Northern Ontario is the perfect place for seniors who are tired of life in the fast lane to retire to, and he believes Greater Sudbury has more to offer seniors than any other city in the north, said Callaghan.
?I think if we do it right, it would be very easy to market our community as a retirement destination because we have so much to offer,? he said. ?It?s
just a matter of doing it right and that?s what this marketing campaign is all about.?
