Bonnyville eyeing economic development opportunities

What sort of businesses could Bonnyville attract? What types of commercial or retail businesses are needed?

This is what is on the mind of Bonnyville town council and last Tuesday, they elected to hire a consulting firm to look at these gaps in business.

Also during the meeting, council accepted the Economic Development Strategy plan, a broader vision for Bonnyville business in the future.

“With the ec dev strat plan [Economic Development Strategy], we looked at of course, our strengths, our weaknesses, our opportunities. Then one of the components in that is to do the Commercial and Retail Gap analysis. We had already been talking about that with the administration. And so we’re going to go ahead with that,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

The gap analysis will look for ways to attract new investment, while growing existing businesses and jobs within the town.

A delegation from Deliotte LLP who conducted the Strategy Plan was delivered to council on Tuesday.

The results that are hoped to happen from this vision include diversifying industries as to stabilize from the boom/bust reliance on oil and gas, make downtown more appealing, and more retail opportunities.

“We’re going to take a look at, it’s easy to sit back and say, well, Bonnyville needs an organization that makes widgets. Well, by doing an actual plan in and taking an an analytical approach of what we already have, what could actually work here, do we have the retail space?” said Brosseau. 

“Do we have the lands to support these type of businesses or this industry? That’s what this gap analysis is going to help us determine. And then we can make strategic efforts in what we actually need and what’s going to support what we already have.”