Economic development office in Almaguin offers new service

What started as a class project on economic development is now a new service at Almaguin Community Economic Development (ACED).

The service consists of a series of video blogs and podcasts on what economic development means to different groups like municipalities, businesses, organizations, and the public.

As Sarah Cooke, the communications and marketing officer at ACED learned, economic development has many different meanings depending on who’s answering the question.

Cooke came up with the new service while taking a digital communication and social media strategy course offered online by the University of Toronto.

Cooke is no stranger to shooting video and she combined that skill with what she’s learned at ACED to create a video blog project as part of her course.

“I wanted to know what economic development meant to different groups,” Cooke said. “Sometimes people say there is no value in it. But they don’t understand what it is, including not knowing the jargon.”

Cooke talked to three people as part of her project.

The first person she interviewed was Armour Coun. Wendy Whitwell.

“I asked, 'How do you explain economic development to someone who doesn’t know what it means?'” Cooke said.

“I also asked 'What are the challenges and benefits of developing rural areas like the Almaguin Highlands?' Coun. Whitwell emphasized that economic development organizations, like in the Almaguin Highlands, don’t want to overdevelop. They want to create sustainable development that benefits the communities.”

Cooke also talked to Dave Gray, the director of ACED.

The organization was started five years ago and during the interview, Gray highlighted several success stories at ACED and noted economic development is not a one-size-fits-all all concept.

Cooke also secured an interview with Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli who is also Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

“My professor thought it was a coup that I got Minister Fedeli,” said Cooke.

Cooke credits her former career as a reporter for Almaguin News where she met Fedeli several times as the main reason why she was able to get him to participate in her project.

The two talked about key industries that are driving growth in Northern Ontario, the benefits of having economic development offices, what challenges the north faces, and success stories.

One of those success stories is the return of rail passenger service, with one stop being in the Village of South River.

When the course ended, Cooke saw that she had several great interviews on hand and decided there was an opportunity to make them available to a wider audience.

The result was that after some editing she had four video blogs.

Whitwell and Gray make up one video each and she created two video blogs with Fedeli because he provided so much information.

“Then I thought why not keep it going?” Cooke said.

And that’s exactly what she did.

Cooke next talked to Don McArthur, the clerk-administrator with the Village of South River and Coun. Bill O’Hallarn about the benefits of having a rail stop in South River.

She said this was a natural follow-up to her interview with Fedeli and looks at the impact passenger rail service would have along the Almaguin Highlands corridor.

“They told me it won’t just benefit South River but also the region,” she said.

“We also talked about how businesses can start now to prepare for the return of passenger service”.

Cooke is now editing the interviews so they are ready for viewing.

Her goal is to keep the videos and podcasts in the five to 10-minute range.

Cooke has reached out to Machar Mayor Lynda Carleton and Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith for future interviews and both have expressed an interest in the program.

Cooke’s plans also call for talking to ordinary people to gauge their perceptions of economic development.

She would also like to reach out to communities beyond the Almaguin Highlands to gauge their economic development success stories.

Cooke’s objective is to post new content every two weeks.

She’s created a name for the program which is a play on words for economics, calling her initiative ‘Near Northonomics’.

The videos can be seen on YouTube. By the way, Cooke scored 96 per cent in her online course.

Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.