A regional economic opportunity study is now complete.
The study, prepared by Derek Murray and Associates, was presented to council Monday. The idea is to develop an opportunities plan for the region, along with other communities and First Nations in the area.
The report came to a few conclusions, one of which was the recommendation to set up a Battlefords Economic Advisory Council to co-ordinate the delivery of the opportunities plan outlined in the report.
The membership structure of the council would include the City of North Battleford, Town of Battleford, regional representatives, First Nations, Battlefords Chamber of Commerce, Destination Battlefords and North West College.
City Manager Jim Puffalt had been one of those pushing for the opportunity study and he was enthusiastic about the results, which he said contained a lot of good news.
“We’re fifth in growth over the last six years,” said Puffalt. “We’re the third largest functional economic area in the province, which is Regina, Saskatoon, then North Battleford. That creates economic opportunities by itself.”
The area has the second-highest employment growth for a Saskatchewan city over this last time period, and had higher than average employment growth over the last six years, Puffalt noted.
“The Battlefords area has made a remarkable turnaround,” said Puffalt.
He also cited the recent Canadian Federation of Small Business study showing North Battleford has increased from the 45th top entrepreneurial City in the country to 25th under 100,000 population.
Puffalt says he believes there is “a tremendous opportunity” to build on the growth over the last while, and to celebrate the good news.
Overall, Mayor Ian Hamilton was pleased with the report.
“They did an awful lot of background work,” said Hamilton, “mining the statistical information out there, pulling it together.
“Over the last six years, North Battleford and the area surrounding North Battleford and the Battlefords have performed incredibly well in areas of economic growth and job creation and business attraction.”
The report is to be sent to communities in the surrounding area and a meeting will be convened in November or December to map out what the next steps will look like, the mayor confirmed.
