Regional Spotlight: The City of North Bay

Welcome to Invest in Ontario’s inaugural regional spotlight. Ontario has an array of incredibly diverse municipalities spread across its vast geographical landscape. Each month we will post a feature highlighting a unique region and what makes it special from both a business and lifestyle standpoint. What’s more, it will be in their own words. Here’s what North Bay, Ontario had to say about its wonderful city:

The perfect balance for business growth and quality lifestyle

Even during a pandemic, the City of North Bay is making headlines and earning a reputation as a place for businesses and families to call home.

In September alone, North Bay was featured as one of Ontario’s most affordable real estate markets and by another publication as among Canada’s top 20 business environments.

We would like to think that this kind of attention hasn’t happened by accident. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve continued to make economic development a priority, recognizing that attracting new investment and assisting our existing businesses during this time is more important than ever.

While there’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted businesses in North Bay and around the world, it has also underscored the importance of lifestyle and the need to work safely and productively from anywhere, making our city that much more appealing.

“People are able to work remotely in a place that’s not only more affordable and offers more space, but has all of the amenities of a larger centre – everything from public transit and recreational facilities to a performing arts centre and ski hill,” says Mayor Al McDonald.

With this in mind, we have retooled some of our economic development initiatives, including an intensified business retention and expansion program and recently launched package of incentives offered through a Growth Community Improvement Plan. We will be using these programs and others to build on recent successes such as the construction of Norgalv Limited, a new galvanizing plant at our Airport Industrial Business Park.

After an extensive search, Norgalv chose North Bay as the site of their new $21-million facility, and now calls the city home. “As a group of investors from South Africa, we investigated various business opportunities across the globe ranging from Europe to Australia, but ultimately decided on North Bay,” said Andre van Soelen, Managing Director of Norgalv Limited. “I can honestly say that the decision was made easy due to the hard work, drive and assistance from all levels of government. It is absolutely amazing that Canada and North Bay have welcomed us with open arms.”

Our efforts to attract new residents and businesses will be coupled with the Federal Government’s soon-to-be-launched Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot; and, in partnership with the province, we will continue to focus on assisting local businesses and sectors in recovering from the COVID-19 shutdown.

North Bay marked its second highest construction year on record in 2019 and celebrated a record year for film and television activity – and we want to keep the momentum going.

“We look forward to once again reaching similar milestones,” says Mayor McDonald. “It is our priority to create new job opportunities, not only to attract new residents, but to enable more residents to stay in North Bay and make it their home.”