You have a regional hospital, regional library, banking institutions, Cineplex Cinemas, Big-box stores, and unique shopping and eateries, among others – and a host of small businesses I’d like to discuss shortly – but I want to focus on your goal to develop as the ‘Mobile Work Capital of Canada.’ Can you please ell the readers how this came to be? FM: Effort, effort, effort. I do a great deal of travelling and reaching out to meet with business leaders. We reach out and we find opportunities like Web.com. As Mayor Dicks mentioned earlier, we had the Virtual Job Fair here recently. One of our councillors, John Guthro, has worked from home, telecommuting for years and it was his brain child years ago to promote New Glasgow as the ‘Mobile Work Capital’ of Canada. The Virtual Job Fair was actually a proposal he had and we jumped on it. It was held at Glasgow Square Theatre, a great venue for businesses and the community to host a variety of events, and it was an informational session for people to learn about all the opportunities there are to work from home in the telecom- muting industry, including the financial implications. Jack Kyte, Executive Director of the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce, participated in our Virtual Job Fair and talked about a project they are currently working on called ‘Chamber Hub,’ which is a co- workspace. This is a space for people who work from home to come to once a week or more so that they can get out of their home office and just work in a different space. It’s also a great space to meet and collaborate with like-minded individuals. We were also able to, at the Virtual Job Fair, Skype-in five international employers who run work-from- home busi- nesses who spoke to the nearly one hundred people in attendance about the best practices and opportunities this career path offers. We want the people of New Glasgow and Pictou County to know that we’re looking into every sort of option to bring the most jobs, the most career opportunities, the best jobs, to this region and that’s what the Virtual Job Fair was really all about, offering another tool to success to our residents. At the end of the day it’s about retention, too – keeping people living and working in Pictou County. GM: We jokingly call it ‘The Ten Foot Commute.’ Downtown New Glasgow certainly has a lot of new faces: Angela’s Attic, Cakes and Things, The Commune, Chelsea Laine, Perfect Diversity Clay Art Studio, The Office, Naturally Bare, The Black Pearl, Fly By Knight Comics, Cards & Collectables, Mamatsu, to name a few. How has Town Council facilitated this natural tran- sition from old to new? ND: Having lived here most of my life, I can say that the downtown here in NewGlasgow has gone through the same ups and downs as most small towns experience anywhere
instances where it all came together – and we’re seeing that a lot more these days.
Webbuilders is an example of the knowledge economy that has become the new face of New Glasgow.They do what their name says: they build and improve websites for individuals and companies. So when you own and operate a business here, you can even hire local when it comes to designing your website. So would you say that your identity hasn’t changed but rather that it has grown? ND: I’d say that we’re in the business of providing quality infrastructure and an environment for business success and growth. The economy is the leading driver for every- thing that makes a town, a municipality; this impacts what is available for residents, for families. And so, we have to pay attention to businesses and work in partnership with them whether they are an anchor business, a small or medium-sized business, or a start-up. As times change, so does the business environment and creating opportunities means keeping up with trends and strategies – and that’s something we take very seriously. We recently held a Virtual Job Fair here in New Glasgow and it really reinforced something that I’m always thinking of: What will the economy and the Town look like in 20 years? We have a viable and sustainable community and how to keep it that way is engaging the people and making sure that every kind of business thrives. As I listen to Frank and Geralyn just now it’s no wonder why we’re doing so well here in New Glasgow on the business front. We have strong and dedicated staff. I understand that the East River Business Park is in the midst of an expansion. How did this unfold and what does it mean for the region? FM: New Scotland Business Development Inc. is a corpo- ration that was created in 2014 between the Town of New Glasgow and the Municipality of the County of Pictou. The purpose of the company is to facilitate business develop- ment and economic growth opportunities through the sale of business park lands within the region of Pictou County. One of my jobs is to attract businesses to that park and drive development and that involves a lot of travel, a lot of outreach to talk to a lot of different industries, different companies. It could be distribution, retail, or service as the park is zoned for almost anything. Boston Pizza is coming to New Glasgow and we’re very pleased with that. Again Crombie REIT played a critical role in this recruitment. It would not have happened without them – they were the driving force.
The brick and mortar side of things is well-established in New Glasgow with shops and services.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2017
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