Mayor: City poised to be shipping hub

The project manager responsible for the huge success of Regina's Global Transportation Hub (GTH) says there are opportunities for Yorkton to be a regional hub.

At a luncheon April 10 organized by the City's Economic Development Committee (EDC), John Law outlined to city officials and media April 10 lessons learned in completing the massive GTH project. Key among these, he repeated several times, is developing the capability to "work at the speed of business."

"If you're not ready," he said, "[potential tenants] will go somewhere else."

Mayor Bob Maloney said the City does not currently have specific plans to pursue a smaller regional version of the GTH, but wouldn't rule it out as a future endeavour.

"When you look at it, Yorkton is in a position like Regina," Maloney said. "We're far enough away from major centres where there's a possibility down the road, if interest is expressed, that we could be a shipping hub for our region."

Law outlined the critical success factors for Regina's GTH were:

Gaining control of the required land, which involved annexation of 1,700 acres from the Rural Municipality of Sherwood.

Securing CPR as dedicated rail carrier.

Securing Loblaws as the anchor tenant.

Securing strong municipal and provincial government support.

Access to the National Highway System.

Proximity to an international airport.

Providing educational and training facilities.

The project used a collaborative effort drew in participants from various disciplines including public safety and design, work force development, business development, infrastructure and operations, and corporate services.

Another key, Law said, is to understand tenants' investment criteria and business needs, something he explained is not easy considering how complex large companies are.

"Their sophistication will blow your mind," he said.

Maloney said the City is trying to be prepared.

"I think it's something that we should be ready to respond to," he said. "By that I mean planning. If you've got your infrastructure in place and your planning in place then when people show up and are knocking on the door, you have to be in a position to give them answers."

Maloney enumerated recent City efforts to be in that position including annexation of land from the R.M. of Orkney, the recent federal funding announcement for improvements to the airport, work on improving drainage and water supply and Parkland College's new trades and technology centre.

"When you look at our planning, I think we're doing far better at that now than we were even 10 years ago," the mayor said.