Thunder Bay & NWO Feature
Red Rock looks to marina expansion, cruise ship tourism
There’s not too much to cheer about in Red Rock these days.
The community of 1,060, an hour’s drive east of Thunder Bay, has been without a major employer since Norampac closed its Kraft papermill in 2006.
Thunder Bay & NWO News
Thunder Bay keeps convention business coming
In a volatile tourism market where visitors and major hotel chains were holding the line on personal and capital spending, Thunder Bay weathered the economic storm quite nicely.
Red Rock looks to marina expansion, cruise ship tourismThere’s not too much to cheer about in Red Rock these days.The community of 1,060, an hour’s drive east of Thunder Bay, has been without a major employer since Norampac closed its Kraft papermill in 2006.
Thunder Bay growers become destination attractionThe
kind of parties that Vanderwees Home & Garden Centre throws
usually brings out the cops.But
their job is restricted to directing traffic of the hundreds of
greenthumbers who make their way out to Mapleward Road on the
outskirts of Thunder Bay.
Safeway clears space for local farmers A food research expert is adopting a wait-and-see approach to a marketing push by Safeway grocery chain to provide shelf space for locally grown food.
Thunder Bay & NWO Community Profile
Situated on the shores of Lake Superior in northwestern Ontario, Thunder Bay’s unique location has defined its reputation as a major transportation hub sporting large seaport facilities, major railway lines and the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The city’s location as a gateway to vast tracks of wilderness has also made it a resource base for the forest industry, a major growth engine. Efforts to develop forestry continue by building a strong value-added sector.
The Community Economic Development Commission is a chief mechanism to enhance the region’s potential. One major initiative has capitalized on the region’s resources by using Thunder Bay as a base for manufacturing and skilled labour for development in the Alberta Oil Sands.
In co-operation with Bombardier, community partners leveraged their expertise to secure a $700-million contract to develop subway cars for the Toronto Transit Commission.
Projections for the emerging knowledge-based industry are similarly optimistic. The city’s Munro Street Research Centre, revamped with a $6 million upgrade, will house the Molecular Medicine Research Centre. A projected $100 million injection into the economy is anticipated as a result of the consortium comprised of Molecular Medicine Research Centre, Lakehead University Research Lab, Lakehead Superior Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Genesis Genomics and others.
As an adjunct to a multi-targeted economic development initiative, the city will continue to capitalize on its robust tourist industry defined by such premier attractions as Eagle Canyon, Kakabeka Falls, and the vistas of Lake Superior’s shoreline and surrounding waterways.
