in New Glasgow and places like Glasgow Square Theatre and the Wellness Centre are invaluable public forums to promote the cultural richness of the region. The Town of New Glasgow just signed several proclama- tions, one for Gaelic HeritageMonth, one for Asian Heritage Month, one for the Marathon of Respect and Equality as well as one for Human Values Day. These are only a few of the ways we recognize and honour the rich multicultural fabric of our community and demonstrate a commitment to inclusiveness and diversity. FM: I believe that you can’t do justice promoting any town or city in Nova Scotia without also promoting the diversity of the region in which it exists. Pam Mood, the Mayor of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was recently in the area and during her speech she emphasized some of the very same philoso- phies that we live here: When she promotes Yarmouth, she promotes the regional assets that are in nearby Digby and Barrington and everything the South Shore of the province has to offer. GM: I belong to a Municipal Community Economic Devel- opment group. As a provincial CED organization, we meet a couple of times of year for a ‘Best Practices’ conference – a sharing of knowledge around the table, really – and we usually find that we’re facing the same challenges. The issues of attraction, retention, and growth are always para- mount. One way to approach this issue is through what we call ‘economic gardening.’ This is where we seek out what we call ‘anchor businesses,’ businesses that are success- ful and embedded in the fabric of the community and we try to develop strategies along with them to address the challenges we all face. We’re tapping into their success and asking ‘Why are you doing so well?’ It’s about helping every business within the community grow – and this is a shift. More and more businesses are seeing what they have in the communities they call home and helping those communi- ties grow in every way possible is a good business model. Would you say that the grass roots approach is your priority, your go-to, your model? GM : For sure. I’ll go back to our Community Economic Development Plan: we’re one of the few municipalities in
ND: The Wellness Centre has been a tremendous asset in attracting major events of both a regional and provin- cial scope to our county. The centre has hosted the 2016 Nova Scotia 55+ Games, the UNSM Spring Conference, the provincial Silver Economy Summit, Hockey Nova Scotia Day of Champions, plus major concerts and many, many skating and hockey provincial championships. The corpo- rate sector and community organizations are also hosting major events for their businesses and organizations in this amazing facility. The Maritime Junior A Hockey league and it member teams have also named the Wellness Centre as one of the top facilities in their league. All of these activities help to put the town and the region on the map for future events. “The way small businesses have taken over downtown where some of the bigger, old anchor businesses have left off is incredible. It’s going and it’s growing!” GM: Because of the diversity of the people of the region, the people of Pictou County really work hard to promote and support cultural events and festivals that are for everyone. We’re a very inclusive community. We have a very active Race Relations and Anti-Discrimination Committee
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2017
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