SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017
SMALL TOWN, BIG BUSINESS
In 2016, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) ranked Truro at 32 in their 9th annual report, Entrepreneurial Communities: Canada’s top places to start and grow a business. According to Truro Town Hall, this one-year 42 place improvement is due in part to three factors: Population Demographics and Growth, Education and Available Talent, and the fact that Truro is a Transportation and Logistics Corridor (truro.ca/why-truro.html). I spoke in mid-December with the Mayor of Truro, Bill Mills and Truro Business Development Officer, Ben Seveno about the big boom in their small town.
By David MacDonald
B ill Mills was elected to Council in 1987 and became Mayor in 1997. After nearly twenty years in that esteemed position, Bill, as he prefers, still has an undeniable passion in his voice when he talks about the nearly 13,000 citizens of the Province’s largest town. He’s proud of the people of Truro like a father is proud of his children. And he knows a thing or two about that. Bill and his wife of 36 years, Phyllis, are parents to seven children and grandparents to five. “There is something about seeing other people succeed that I really enjoy. It really gives me a thrill,” Bill told me when I asked him what he liked about working closely with Ben “I particularly love being able to have the opportunity to talk to young business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. To help shape their journey in business is a real pleasure. One thing
I always tell young up-and-comers is that there are a lot of members of the Truro business community in need of suc- cession planning, so if we can get a young entrepreneur interested in perhaps taking over an existing business and doing it in a cooperative manner, the opportunities are practically boundless. We don’t want to miss out on what established businesses still have to offer, and at the same time we don’t want to frown upon the new and exciting.” “There is something about seeing other people succeed that I really enjoy. It really gives me a thrill.” Town hall has been pursuing the new and exciting for a number of years. “Make Tracks for Truro” was for years the slogan of the Railside shire town until a recent effort by the branding task force to modernize the town’s image. “Our new brand is ‘Make the Connection’ and we feel that stands, in part, for reaching out to young business developers,” Bill continued. “I’ve said my entire career in politics that young developers are the lifeblood of any town. Their attitude is just different. A young business person is willing to spend a buck to make a buck, while the ‘old money’ approach is ‘I’ll spend a buck if I’m guar-
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anteed in writing to make 10.’ The younger generation is willing to step up and out in ways that no one else is. And it really comes down to perspective. There are always going to be a lot of ‘You can’t do that’ people in life. Well, there are even more of them in business and politics. Whenever I come across these people, I ask whether it is a ‘You can’t’ situation or a ‘We won’t’ situ- ation and I work with them to find a solution, a ‘We can’ formula – every time. Our research team in Business Development works like this for the business communi- ty here. They work closely with developers to help them find their unique way of succeeding.” “Our new brand is ‘Make the Connection’ and we feel that stands, in part, for reaching out to young business developers.” Truro’s Business and Economic Development Office provides a wide array of services. Ben and his teammate, Alison Grant, are happy to help with: Expansion or relo- cation of an existing business, starting a new business, business challenges and opportunities, information on the community, local business climate, growth opportunities and development plans, information and resources to help businesses grow and expand, finan-
cial grants, incentives, and assistance, and potential site locations.
“Start-up costs in Truro are a fraction of what they are in city centres like Halifax. One thing we pitch to manufac- turers considering setting-up shop here in Truro is the potential manufacturing force here at any given time,” Ben explained. “The Nova Scotia Community College campus here in Truro has a reputable composite man- ufacturing program and they’re always open to adding onto their existing curriculum to train future workers for specialized manufacturing tasks. The Cobequid Edu- cational Centre has a new skills training lab for areas such as welding. That’s not even considering the Dal- housie Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill. The science
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“And on top of the logistics,” Ben continued, “the com- munity we have here is quite amazing. The quality of life we have is not what people expect in a small town of less than 20,000 people. We have an amazing Regional Hospital, which has all the latest technology. Two world class high schools, one English, one French. Multiple post-secondary institutions. We have the Rath Eastlink Community Centre, which has a hockey arena, a swimming pool, a fitness centre, and a rock climbing wall. There is a skatepark, movie theatre, fine dining and fast food… And on top of that, we also offer affordable housing, entertain- ment, recreation opportunities, and a walkable and vital downtown - everything a young business person moving to Truro would need to be happy.”
Truro’s entrepreneurial opportunities are only enhanced by the presence of big business and big names.
“The name Stanfield’s has been synonymous with quality and service in our community for over one hundred years,” Bill explained with a patriotic pride. “The Stan- fields have been major employers for the Town of Truro and Colchester County and have been an outstanding corporate citizen, supporting many different projects in the Town of Truro over the years. There have been Stan-
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fields on Town Council, Robert Stanfield was the Premier of Nova Scotia in the 1950s and ‘60s, and they’ve been inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame. They continue to be a major garment manufacturer for Canada and countries around the world. Jon Stanfield is now President of Stanfield’s Limited North America and I’d like to wish him well. I’m sure Jon will do what his predecessors have done and expand the business.”
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It’s certainly not only the well-connected, founding families in the business community who call Truro home.
“The Truro Business Park is the brain child of some amazing people, some from inside the world of politics and some not,” Bill said. “It’s owned by the town and run by the Truro Industrial Development Society. They’ve really attracted some big names to town. Tandus Centiva,
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formerly Crossley Carpet Mills, was not only huge for Truro; it was huge for Nova Scotia. To have one of the leaders in textiles come and set up shop was incredi- ble. It’s led to a few more success stories in the business park, I know that. There are almost 70 businesses there now, including homegrown Wilsons Fuel.” According to Truro.ca, the reasonably priced and fully serviced lots in the Truro Business Park allow for “Quick and easy access to Highway #102 and the Trans-Can- ada Highway, several nearby seaports, including the Port of Halifax, and direct rail line access located at the intersection of Atlantic Canada’s main north-south and east-west rail lines.”
“Well I guess it’s about location, location, location first and foremost,” Ben insisted. “For those not familiar with Truro, we are located in the navigational center of the province of Nova Scotia. We’re known as the Hub of Nova Scotia. If you’re inbound on the Trans-Canada 104 from New Brunswick going to either Halifax or to Cape Breton, you come through Truro. We’re an hour and for- ty-five minutes from Moncton, New Brunswick and the Greater Moncton International Airport and only forty minutes from the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.” “We are by tradition a distribution centre of the province,” Bill continued. “The last time I checked, 5 million cars per year go by Millbrook First Nation
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on Highway 102, and then even more profound, just north of Truro on the Trans-Canada, 8 million cars a year go by destined mostly for Cape Breton. It’s also important to remember that modern Truro was built by the railway, which continues to play a crucial role in the local economy. Really, there are so many amazing qualities that make it a logical place to set-up business, but the most important is cooperation. We work closely with our neighbours in the County and with the village of Bible Hill, our neighbour – that is a big key for us to have success in what we are doing here in Central Nova Scotia.”
Bible Hill is home to the Perennia Innovation Centre. Perennia “is a not-for-profit corporation with the mission to help farmers, fishermen and food processors be prosperous and profitable” (Perennia.ca/about/). “The research and development opportunities avail- able there for those in agricultural sciences are incredi- ble. And the amount of success stories in our town that place is responsible for is inspiring,” Bill said with a definite note of satisfaction in his voice. Bill equates results with teamwork, so for him, an idea just isn’t an idea until it’s shared and its potential max- imized.
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“I came to Truro in 1979, which would be 37 years ago this Boxing Day,” Bill explained. “When I first came to town, Council was beginning to discuss a regional water treatment plan. Since then, that water treatment plan has become a reality and it serves not only the town of Truro, but also Millbrook First Nation, and the village of Bible Hill. Colchester County also has, thanks to the amazing collaborative work of so many town leaders over the last thirty or even forty years, its own wastewa- ter treatment facility. It’s one of about 19 shared-proj- ects. Regional cooperation is not something we just talk about in Central Nova Scotia.” “Well I guess it’s about location, location, location.” “Event attraction is always a priority. I’m a member of the Atlantic Mayors’ Congress and not that long ago we had a presentation from Grant MacDonald of Event Atlantic out of Moncton, New Brunswick. This organiza- tion specializes in sports tourism and the event industry in Atlantic Canada and the presentation was all about new ways to attract new visitors and build on our town brands all while benefiting the cultural, social, and envi- ronmental makeup of the host region. Sport tourism for example is a $5.2 billion annual industry in Canada, so what Event Atlantic does is set us up with a strategy that But it’s not all work and no play in Truro.
has us working together as towns rather than competing against one another. It’s all about finding what’s a good fit for who and when. It’s important, for example, not to have two major events in neighbouring towns at the same time. So, now each town has submitted a database so that people know what we have to offer in terms of venues and dates. It gives every town involved the opportunity to host a reputable event in a venue of their choosing. It’s really incentive for everyone to invest wisely in infrastruc- ture and train their staff in the networking skills neces- sary to attract big ticket events. Events conferences held across North America have been invaluable tools for us because it’s a relatively new growth area for Truro. This is better than the old throw something at the wall and see if it sticks approach. Our sports and music communities are incredible. They bring a lot to the community, so we’re willing to do what we have to do in this area to get it right. In sports, the Town of Truro has in its long list of accom- plishments four provincial titles, two world titles, and two national titles. The people of Truro and Colchester County are incredibly competitive in sports – not to mention aca- demics and business. That’s why when we host events, everyone wants to get involved. And a strong volunteer base helps us attract major events, like the upcoming World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in 2018 to be held at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. We’re going to have some exciting news about a hockey event to be held there in 2017. There’s always something big on the go in Truro.”
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as spotlighted in the JANUARY 2017 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
Phone • 902-897- PAVE (7283) | Fax • 902-893-4213 95 Lower Truro Rd, Truro, NS willkarepaving.ns.ca | info@willkarepaving.ns.ca 902-893-8455 www.mcw.com
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