Mark MacDonald, Publisher of Business Examiner
Deals. That’s the bottom line concerning economic development.
I was told that years ago by John Watson, Executive Director of the Comox Valley Economic Development Society (CVEDS), or Invest Comox Valley as it is also known. I have never forgotten that, nor have I doubted that it is, in fact, the single most important aspect and goal of economic development.
Attracting new companies and growing others is what good economic development offices do. The result is jobs – lots of family-raising, mortgage paying, vehicle buying ones that attract high-end talent to the community.
Whenever I hear an economic development type use the term “business retention”, I automatically know they’re missing the mark and misunderstand their function. That wording is a fundamental shift from “development” as the name suggests. How many companies with dozens of employees that own their premises really have the option of leaving? They’re staying, unless excessive taxation and needless regulation drives them elsewhere.
Business retention is not development at all. It’s trying to hold companies back from leaving.
Our Business Examiner publications have covered almost every area of the province: All of Vancouver Island, the Thompson Okanagan (with some forays into the Kootenays), Northern BC from coast to border, and the Fraser Valley. We have observed economic development offices from border to border to border to coast, and I can say – and often do – with confidence that CVEDS is the best, most productive economic development office in British Columbia.
Watson has one of the hardest working teams out there, as Geoff Crawford and Lara Greasley and others are “all hands on deck” whenever there’s a project or festival to manage or create (see WinterFest or the hugely successful BC Seafood Festival). And with the added responsibility of overseeing the Vancouver Island Visitor Centre (VIVC) for the region’s tourism arm, Discover Comox Valley Tourism, there is always lots to do.
Utilizing his well-used Rolodex, Watson has an uncanny ability to wrestle funding out of federal and provincial governments for various projects, including the VIVC welcoming centre at the entrance to Courtenay.
Watson was a protégé of predecessor Norm McLaren, who along with other Board members, business people and community members, was a major force to expand Comox Valley Airport that has transformed the area and the region’s economy. There are many other successful business arrivals, too many to list here, the latest of which is the Cannabis Innovation Centre by Aurora Cannabis Inc. in Comox.
It has been a team effort, as one of the reasons for CVEDS success has been the “can do” attitude of Courtenay and Comox in particular, and the structure of its board. Board members include some of the best and brightest business minds in the Comox Valley – proven professionals who know firsthand how to grow and manage their own companies.
Because they possess that experience, it helps them oversee the CVEDS operations and provide the private-enterprise expertise that is required for any city to attract private sector investment. In other words, they are “doers”.
The CVEDS board is not dissimilar to other agencies set up to ensure uninterrupted service to vital sectors of the economy. Port and Airport Authority Boards feature appointed representatives from all three levels of government: federal, provincial and civic, to complement private sector and community individuals on the board and bypass political partisanship.
What this structure does is provide balance and limited interference, because rarely do the federal/provincial/civic governments come from the same political party.
CVEDS has largely been free from partisan, anti-business political interests because of this, and can concentrate on making deals happen. Despite its strong track record, however, there are some clouds on the horizon.
Anti-growth/development types that have apparently decided to set their sights on CVEDS with, some suggest, an eye towards shutting it down or severely clipping its wings.
One of the most ironic things about that push is that self-proclaimed ‘green’ individuals may be attempting to shut down the group that has pushed Comox Valley economy’s growth into non-industrial “growing” sectors: Agriculture and aquaculture. It was Watson who led the drive to emphasize expansion in those areas over a dozen years ago, and it’s yielded much fruit.
CVEDS spearheaded moves toward making sure everyone in BC and beyond knew that the Comox Valley had fertile feeds and oceans to grow sustainable produce and seafood. The bevy of new agricultural activities and water-based operations that dot the local map are a direct result of that foresight.
Economic development offices that run into local political interference are typically shackled into ineffectiveness. That should not be allowed to happen in the Comox Valley, the gold standard for BC.
If opponents are successful in their efforts to denigrate, alter or even and perhaps eliminate CVEDS, businesses, employees and families will feel the negative effects.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is always true, and pertains more than ever to CVEDS.
CVEDS has the best possible structure that has proven its worth through many, many successes.
It has the best Economic Development Officer in the province in John Watson, and strong leadership at the Board level.
It does what it does better than any other similar group in BC, and other communities would do well to clone its structure and performance. CVEDS is a living textbook for how economic development can and should be done.
