Strategic Economic Development


This post is the third in Steve’s series about his Priorities.

Employment and Supporting Local Business

Attract good jobs in appropriate locations and encourage the success of small and large businesses:

During the last 4 years,  I have been involved in the Economic Development Advisory Committee and subsequent workshops on the same subject. I have spent time with small, medium and large business owners and I have consulted with our BIA and our local Chamber of Commerce.  We want our community to be a place where local people can find good jobs.  We want to attract large employers who offer well paying employment opportunities and we want those jobs to be located in appropriate locations.  While we strive to attract those large employers, we also want to foster the growth of new and existing small independent businesses, including home based businesses that need opportunities and support to get their businesses off the ground and grow with manageable overhead.  

Amazon and big box stores have changed the landscape of small town retail and we won’t return to 40 years ago when you could buy anything you want in downtown Paris, however we do want to take steps to attract appropriate retail businesses to enhance our local shopping experience (Giant Tiger is a great example of a retailer that we need to try to attract to Paris). 

Tourism

Tourism has been a source of strong economic growth in our community, creating many jobs, however we need to take a more balanced approach, ensuring that we don’t allow so many visitors that they scare local consumers away from our retail business districts.  Paris has long been a beautiful town and, especially during the pandemic when travel was limited, we have become a large attraction for Day Trippers.  As we move into the next term of Council, I will work towards a shift from promoting Tourism to managing Tourism. 

Parking

Parking for local and non-local shoppers is always a concern in Paris and despite the fact that we added 65 parking spots to the former OPP site, we still need to seek out more creative approaches to further improve parking downtown. I am confident that this can be achieved without the need for a multi-level parking garage. Improved active transport, such as more and better sidewalks and multi use paths, as well as expansion of the Brant Transit system can result in less reliance on personal vehicles to access downtown, thus reduce the demand for parking.

Learn More about Steve’s Priorities: