‘I’m very optimistic,’ Quispamsis mayor says of new Greater Saint John economic development plan

An ambitious three-year plan from the newly-renamed Economic Development Greater Saint John hopes to increase the region’s workforce by two-and-a-half per cent per year.

The plan focuses on business innovation and encouraging entrepreneurship, but most importantly hinges on a marketing push to encourage people to move to the Greater Saint John region.

“We have a great story to tell in Greater Saint John. I’m just not sure how well we’ve told it,” said Andrew Oland, chair of the development agency’s board of directors.

“I think we’ve done a great job for example on the tourism side over the last number of years, but I’m not sure we’ve done a great job on the Greater Saint John, what’s the reason for living here.”

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Over the last two decades the population base in Greater Saint John has increased only marginally. According to Oland, the population grew only 500 people between 1996 and 2016. In order to grow economically, the region has to increase its population.

There are an estimated 1,500 unfilled jobs in the region and the agency says one of its year one priorities is to fill 350 of those, while also creating another 300.

“Over the last decade we haven’t grown the way that we should be and the population is aging and we’re losing young people. So we need to really turn the dial on that we need to be focused on bringing in people,” said Ron Gaudet, CEO of Economic Development Greater Saint John.

Gaudet took over the top job in 2017, and now is unveiling the plan he was brought in to create, along with a rebrand and name change from Enterprise Saint John.

In 2016 some municipalities questioned whether Enterprise Saint John was providing enough bang for its buck. Saint John, Rothesay, Quispamsis, Grand Bay-Westfield and St. Martins all provide funding for the agency.

“We need all of our economic development agencies to present to us detailed plans to help us achieve results on tax base, people and jobs,” said Saint John Mayor Don Darling in December of 2016.

“Our council is certainly committed to maximizing every taxpayers dollar and we want to make sure and ensure that every dollar is well spent,” Quispamsis Mayor Gary Clark said.

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Now Clark is changing his tune. With a new leadership group, new name, and new three-year plan, that will report its progress quarterly, Clark is encouraged by the direction of Economic Development Greater Saint John.

“I’m very optimistic about the new plan, about the new leadership. I’ve seen drastic changes with all of that and I really look forward to investing in the economic development and who they have there, and very excited about the new three-year plan that I saw rollout yesterday,” Clark said, while also stressing the need for everyone in the region to work together towards improving the economic situation.

Clark said council included a 14 per cent funding bump in this year’s budget, slated specifically for marketing in order to help achieve the population increase necessary for the three-year plan to be successful.