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News and Events
Help Cornwall Grow Seminar
Presenters at the Help Cornwall Grow seminar, L-R, Bob Peters, Chief Dan Parkinson, Connie Vardy, Jamie Carr, Andre Pommier, Drew Ferreria, Pat Macdonald and Terry Landon.
Team Cornwall Chair Gilles Latour, left, and Job Creation Partnership Coordinator Gord Shaver, right, present guest speaker Pat Macdonald, CEO & GM of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, with a Team Cornwall sweater.
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Residents of Cornwall heard powerful and passionate testimonials to their city last night at the Help Cornwall Grow seminar at the Cornwall Civic Complex.
The seminar, sponsored by the Team Cornwall Job Creation Partnership program, was designed to show residents how they can help Team Cornwall promote the city as a great place to live, work and do business.
A crowd of about 100 was on hand to hear Bob Peters, Senior Development Officer with Cornwall Economic Development provide a basic primer on the department’s role, objectives and message. “The primary job of Economic Development,” says Peters, “is to promote the city to new business.” He outlined the need to attract more residents and business to the city in order to help shoulder tax responsibilities. Noting that the city’s current infrastructure could handle a population base of 50 – 60,000 residents, he said the goal was to increase population to a target of 50,000. After offering several suggestions on how the average citizen could assist Economic Development, Peters introduced one of the department’s latest initiatives – postcards that invite friends and relatives who have left the city to return to Cornwall.
The evening also featured a presentation from Pat Macdonald, CEO and General Manager of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, who discussed topics that included “Today’s Tourist, Tomorrow’s Resident’, and “What Tourism Can Do For Cornwall’.
An authority on tourism attraction marketing, Ms. Macdonald said “research and current trends indicate the corridor around Cornwall is primed for growth.” The 50th Anniversary of the flooding of the St. Lawrence Seaway Valley and the designation of the nearby Rideau Waterway as a heritage river are considered to be two influences that will drive tourism to the Cornwall area. She urged the city to highlight the St. Lawrence River in it’s marketing message, and to try to find ways to encourage tourists to include the city as an overnight and daytrip destination.
Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the series of brief presentations from a panel of Team Cornwall members, a combination of longtime Cornwall residents, and relative newcomers to the city who offered a fresh perspective on the benefits the city has to offer. Members of the panel spoke passionately about their civic pride and love of the city, mentioning a variety of factors including location, quality of life, housing prices, cost of living, lack of traffic congestion, and a “small-town” atmosphere with all the amenities of a larger city. Panel members included Cornwall Community Hospital Foundation Director Connie Vardy, Police Chief Dan Parkinson, realtor Terry Landon, businessman Andre Pommier, and Drew & Jamie, hosts of The Early Show on Rock 101.9.
In addition to organizing the seminar, the Team Cornwall Job Creation Partnership has established a monthly email newsletter that assists community organizations in recruiting volunteers, and provided administrative assistance to the host committee for the RBC Cup.
The Ontario Job Creation Partnerships Program provides work experience to unemployed jobseekers in projects that benefit the community or local economy. At the end of their participation in the project, participants will have recent work experience and additional skills to add to their résumés, increasing their chances of successfully finding long-term employment.
Team Cornwall is made up of over 300 business people and professionals who use their own networks to promote the positive attributes of Cornwall as a city in which to live and do business.
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