The City of Terrace has joined a group of local governments in the launch of a new website to help attract investors in the Northwest, and streamline communication with the industries and communities they want to be in.
The developer, Canadian technology firm LocalIntel, is working collaboratively with municipalities to launch independent community investment portals across the northwest. This network includes Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat and the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine.
“We know that we are seen as a region, and not necessarily always as individual communities to site selectors,” wrote Danielle Myles, Terrace’s manager of economic development in an email. “So having the same site, that looks and feels the same, presents better and provides a better service.”
Northern B.C. is positioned to see significant growth in investment. According to the city’s communications officer, Karisa Petho, $213 billion in proposed projects are in varying stages of approval, and Terrace “is literally situated at the centre of it all.”
Website visitors start by selecting a topic they are most interested in, ranging from industry trends to information about community facilities and growth opportunities.
When a topic is selected, the user is brought to another page where the subject is broken down further with compiled information and additional interactive maps that include details about each investment opportunity.
“This presents the information in an easy to read format,” said Myles. “The website is based on a lot of research on what investors want to see in the initial stages.”
The website will be updated on a quarterly basis during its initial three-year trial period and will function as a research tool using information gathered from BC Stats and Stats Canada.
While the city said it has not yet received an invoice for the total cost of the project, the marketing tool was budgeted for within the economic development section of the 2017 annual budget.
This new investment portal will be replacing the Invest in Northwest BC website, launched in 2012, as the information presented is now available on provincially managed portals, including the BC Major Projects Inventory.
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“Invest in the Northwest was created to provide information needed at the time,” Myles said. “Now that new tools have come online…the portal is meant to fill that information gap.”
Users can access the portal on the city’s homepage or through the economic development section here.
An earlier version of this story included a misquote of Danielle Myles. It has been amended to reflect her intended statement.
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