Priority 01
Sustainable Economic Growth & Prosperity
Make Thunder Bay the easiest city in Canada for businesses to start, grow, and invest — and a place people choose to build their careers.
The challenge
Talent and investment go where opportunity is abundant. Thunder Bay's fundamentals are strong, but our economic strategy has been incremental and fragmented, and our partnerships easily.
Our plan
- Make Thunder Bay the easiest city in Canada for businesses to start, grow and invest.
- Build long-term, respectful partnerships with Indigenous communities grounded in shared leadership.
- Grow a powerhouse innovation ecosystem with Lakehead University, Confederation College, and the Health Sciences.
- Attract and keep talent, entrepreneurs, and new industries for the long term.
What success looks like
New businesses relocating and opening, graduates staying, and Thunder Bay recognized as one of Canada's most opportunity-rich mid-sized cities.
Key initiatives
- CREATE
Grow and invest in innovation and attract and retain future-proofed talent and competencies in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM), healthcare, and strategic resource industries with Lakehead University, Confederation College, and the Health Sciences sector.
- LOCATE
Implement 5-year tax breaks for STEM businesses locating in Thunder Bay.
- ECOSYSTEM NETWORK
Establish innovation and entrepreneurship accelerators and partner with non-Thunder Bay investors and local/regional Indigenous communities to fund new company creation.
- PRIORITIZE IT
Overhaul the "Smart Growth Plan" to a workable and limited number of achievable, budgeted, and fully resourced priority initiatives.
- BE GLOBAL AGAIN
Revive, expand, and invest in international Sister-city programs for tourism reach, global partnerships, and co-investment coordination for economic growth.