Leaders in Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach unveiled what they hope is a new tool to boost business in all three communities - an investment portal website, meant to be a one-stop shop for vital business information.
All three community mayors, councillors and other leaders were on hand for the unveiling of Invest FDC (Flin Flon, Denare Beach, Creighton) June 28 at Flin Flon City Hall. The new portal website, which can be found at investfdc.ca, was created with funds from the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund and working with Richard+Wintrup, a Winnipeg-based urban planning and consultancy firm.
The site consists of a series of profiles for business opportunities for Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach, as well as a brief descriptor of different sectors of the local economy. The community profiles cover each community’s population, demographics, services and areas where local government may be making land available for business.
The project is intended, according to the Regional Economic Development Commission (REDC) - a business partnership consisting of councillors and senior staff from Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach local governments - to make it easier for possible businesspeople to research and get started in the area. With Hudbay shutting down much of its operations in the community this year and the three communities in need of a new industry or business attraction, mayors of all three communities hope the new portal could soften the blow.
“We were very excited about the project,” said Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley.
“It’s a very good tool for us to use, for the community to use, to show that we’re working as a region - three communities together, working as one, to build a stronger future and economy for the whole area,” said Creighton Mayor Bruce Fidler.
“This is the first step here and now - we’ve just got to get the people out there to look at it, get our picture out there, our name out there. I think interest will grow from there.”
“2022 marks the inception of a transformative period for the Flin Flon region. The region is poised to ride on this momentum and continue its efforts in driving economic diversification by honing and expanding its established presence as a strategic hub, servicing both communities and industries in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” reads a statement issued by the REDC about the portal’s creation.
“The region will continue to bank on its distinctive values to engage, nurture and promote the unique advantages of business and life in the north. There is an abundance of green energy, clean water and an educated workforce which are very important aspects that need to be promoted nationally and globally. The investment and tourism attraction online portal is critical to driving this transformation and leading planned development for the Flin Flon region.”
According to the new portal, there are several areas around each community listed as “immediate development areas” - in Flin Flon, that includes the area of Crown land east of the perimeter, land south of Highway 10A, industrial land along Channing Drive, the area between Queen Street and Kingsway and the perimeter, the uptown core, South Main Street and part of the land currently occupied by the Hudbay compound.
Creighton’s development areas include Phantom Lake, the industrial park on the south end of Creighton Avenue, land along the southern side of Creighton Avenue, Main Street, Third Avenue and near Highway 10A on the way out of town.
For Denare Beach, areas being looked at for possible availability are Mosher Lake, an industrial park near Konuto Lake, Moody Road near the Denareplex, Lake Avenue, a portion of land on the Amiskosakihkan reserve called “Denare South” and a large portion on the inlet arm reaching into Amisk Lake labelled as “Denare North”.
Local leaders hope the creation of the portal will help spark interest in new industry or expanding existing businesses.
“We’re hoping it will grow. It’ll probably be incremental to start with, but hopefully it will pick up momentum and we’re going to see some interesting things going through this project,” said Huntley.
“As they have indicated, it has generated some interest in the area - I see that as very positive.”
“All the information about the area people may need is all there in one place. It’s now a very simple thing to use, to be able to gather information and be able to contact the communities,” added Fidler.
