Mayoral candidate Patricia Mills says now is the time to recapture the momentum the city had when it attracted such developments as the medical school, cancer centre and SNOLab.
“These gains brought prestige and recognition to the city,” a release from Mills' campaign said. “But the momentum created by these initiatives seems to have turned into inertia, with no clear plan to move forward with projects that harness the great potential of this community.
“People worked hard to get us to where we are today. They created the opportunities for work and play in our community that we cherish today. These are the things that help attract and keep young people here.”
Mills was critical of the city’s actions so far to get more dollars from upper levels of government to pay for infrastructure costs.
“The city has either raised taxes or cut services,” she's quoted as saying in the release. “But no one is looking at building a bigger pie. By that I mean bringing new revenue sources to the city.”
The city also needs to support existing businesses and encourage new businesses and development, the release said.
“Mills proposes to create an environment of partnership with investors, developers and entrepreneurs where staff would help businesses quickly and easily acquire the information and resources they need to establish or grow their business,” the release said.
“We have to get to yes for business. It is essential that we celebrate and enable our entrepreneurs. We need to make it easier for existing businesses to expand and for new businesses to set-up. We must lead new initiatives, and get out of the way of what’s successful.”
Full text of Patricia Mills' release:
Patricia Mills, mayoral candidate for the city of Greater Sudbury, is making a central part of her platform the need to create positive change to ensure a strong future for the City of Greater Sudbury.
“If we don’t take action today, the city’s growth over the next 20 years is predicted to be near zero. There will be more seniors and fewer children,” says Mills.
“How do you grow a community when your population growth is stagnant and getting older?”
Mills also points out that seniors on fixed incomes don’t make the kinds of big purchases the city needs to drive the local economy. Add in the fact that the city’s expenditures are outpacing inflation, and it doesn’t paint a rosy picture for growth in Greater Sudbury.
“Our infrastructure, like our population, is aging. It’s not unlike going into retirement with a mortgage. If we don’t grow our revenue, we will have significant challenges moving forward. We need to attract new people and investments. It’s our best option for growth.”
Mills believes the city needs to recapture the momentum it had moving into the new millennium, which brought a new medical school, a regional hospital, a state-of-the-art cancer centre, the SNO Lab, and Dynamic Earth. These gains brought prestige and recognition to the city. But the momentum created by these initiatives seems to have turned into inertia, with no clear plan to move forward with projects that harness the great potential of this community.
“People worked hard to get us to where we are today. They created the opportunities for work and play in our community that we cherish today. These are the things that help attract and keep young people here.”
Mills is critical of the city’s actions so far to get additional dollars to pay for infrastructure costs. “The city has either raised taxes or cut services. But no one is looking at building a bigger pie. By that I mean bringing new revenue sources to the city.”
Growing Sudbury’s industry base is important to Greater Sudbury’s future growth. Mining is still an important part of our economy and mining technology is taking huge strides forward.
Mills says we must attract and promote businesses that are bringing new, innovative technology to the mining industry, and re-establish the City of Greater Sudbury as the modern mining capital of the world. She also points out that this knowledge can be transferred to grow a rich, knowledge and tech centre in health, education and research.
According to Mills, the city also needs to support existing businesses and encourage new businesses and development. Mills proposes to create an environment of partnership with investors, developers and entrepreneurs where staff would help businesses quickly and easily acquire the information and resources they need to establish or grow their business.
“We have to get to yes for business. It is essential that we celebrate and enable our entrepreneurs. We need to make it easier for existing businesses to expand and for new businesses to set-up. We must lead new initiatives, and get out of the way of what’s successful.”
She also says the city should take steps to address the skill gap that many companies struggle with.
“Business people are telling me they have jobs but lack the individuals to fill them. We need to look at the skills gap and work with our local post-secondary institutions to ensure our young people have access to the right training and education at home. All of the necessary resources to accomplish this exist and are in place. We just need to work together as a community to make better use of what we’ve already built.
“Greater Sudbury’s future is entirely in the hands of our citizens, businesses and cultural groups. We need to be the city that says: “Yes. Come. Stay. Invest. Play. Grow and thrive with us. We are a dynamic community committed to a high quality of life and we are open for business.”
