Mayor Gilles Laderoute: Growing northern and rural economic development
Officials in the Township of Black River-Matheson, like their counterparts in northern and rural communities across Canada, knew their future depended on doing things differently when it came to economic development.
This change in perspective was shared by Black River-Matheson Mayor Gilles Laderoute when he sat down with Municipal World CEO Susan Gardner during the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Quebec City.
The Need to Change a “Business as Usual” Approach
“We needed somebody outside of the box from the regular vision Black River-Matheson has had over the years. We brought in a new CAO with economic development background from the south end of the province to help us envision how we can attract and sustain what we have,” he said.
Immigration is one key the township is hoping to use in addressing some of its challenges. “To stop the outmigration from out town from the generation who are leaving,” said Laderoute. “To bring them back or bring in new families to attract industries and help the ones that are there presently.”
Laderoute said Black River-Matheson was founded around forestry, mining and agriculture. Today, these sectors are all dealing with industry changes, growth, and the need for new workers. For a community of approximately 2,500 people situated about three hours north of North Bay, and 90 minutes east of Timmins, growing the pool of available workers was essential.
Championing Economic Development Advantages
Overcoming the community’s challenges, Laderoute said, would take more than just hiring a new CAO. And so, the focus shifted to championing the community’s advantages. These including access to both the TransCanada Highway and Quebec’s Highway 101, as well as extensive rail connections. To help spread the word, the community also organized a Teeny Tiny Summit. This helped spread the word around not only Black River-Matheson, but similar remote and rural communities from across the globe.
However, the largest advantage, Laderoute explained, might just be the lifestyle so readily available to those in Black River-Matheson.
“Hiking, biking, fishing, snowmobiling, anything that is related to outdoors, or just relaxing and hearing the birds sing for once in your lifetime instead of planes, trains, and automobiles,” he said. “This is a new lifestyle that people are looking for. With the stresses of life itself, we have the asset to bring that level of stress to a real acceptable level.” MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in the article: Teeny Tiny Summits: Big ideas for small places. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.
Related resource materials: