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2014 Communities of Opportunity: Cochrane

Incorporated in 1910, the Town was named after the Honourable Frank Cochrane, then Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines. Today the Town has a population of about 6,000 and functions as a service centre for a wide tributary area.
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Cochrane

Incorporated in 1910, the Town was named after the Honourable Frank Cochrane, then Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines. Today the Town has a population of about 6,000 and functions as a service centre for a wide tributary area. Cochrane is served by Highway 11, the northern route of the Trans-Canada Highway, and by Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. Today, the Town of Cochrane is a modern, progressive community. Its residential nature is quite different from the Town’s early beginnings. Fortunately, the early builders had the foresight to survey the streets and avenues in grand proportions. The wide, tree-lined avenues regulate a low-density development pattern that is nevertheless reasonably compact and segregated into particular land use areas.

Aside from its special northern charm, Cochrane offers a diverse culture rooted in history, a progressive family-oriented society, along with a vibrant and growing economy envied by many. Cochrane, Ontario is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Northern Ontario. With projections of growth as high as 50% over the next five years, business opportunities are plentiful while home investment and property values remain bullish. Cochrane is fortunate to have some very attractive assets not typical of rural Northern Ontario.

With Detour Gold, the largest gold mine in North America, having started production, two world-class forestry mills poised for prosperity, some of the leading green energy initiatives in the region, and an aggressive growth agenda Cochrane’s economy is running on all cylinders. Along with a world-class events centre built in 2004, breathtaking snowmobile trails, festivals at a provincially sized scale, a world-class Polar Bear Habitat tourist attraction, a supervised beach right in the heart of the community, an amazing way of life, all situated in the best backyard of the planet, Cochrane’s social structure is poised to remain vibrant for a very long time. And this is what makes our community so wonderfully unexpected — come experience it for yourself!

“Cochrane is one of the fastest growing communities in the region, while also being either the lowest, or one of the lowest, cost municipalities across key financial indicators,” said Mayor Peter Politis. “We take a progressive approach to social and economic development, often breaking trail regionally. We don’t see ourselves as small but as capable and have adopted a ‘can do’ culture that keeps visitors referencing our community as being “wonderfully unexpected.”

Swim with polar bears

Cochrane hosts the Polar Bear Habitat and Heritage Village which is one of only a handful of world-class tourist attractions in all of Northern Ontario. Renowned for its opportunity to actually swim with Polar Bears (separated by a four inch thick piece of bulletproof glass), the experience is not only a memorable one, but quite unique and special. The Polar Bear Habitat is a Bear rehabilitation centre and an educational institute to study Polar Bears and their effect on important social issues such as global warming.

The facility is world renowned for its ability to lengthen the lives of Polar Bears in captivity, while providing them an environment as close as possible to their natural habitat. Visit the Polar Bear Habitat and see for yourself what all the excitement is about.

Some of the Best Doctor Availability in the Region

Cochrane is part of the M.I.C.’s (Matheson, Iroquois Falls, Cochrane) group of medical services, which is an organization of the hospitals that uses the strengths of its synergy to provide top-tier medical services to our area. While providing leading edge medical services with the most modern of equipment, Lady Minto Hospital in Cochrane also has a resident surgeon and is one of the few in Northeastern Ontario with this important asset. At most times, Cochrane has a full complement of family physicians looking to ensure every one of its citizens has a family doctor. This is a rare asset in Northern Ontario and one of the key advantages of living in the town that’s wonderfully unexpected.

Attractive property tax rates

With some of the lowest property taxes in Northeastern Ontario, Cochrane provides the highest quality of northern living at competitive cost to the taxpayer. We encourage those thinking of locating to the town that’s wonderfully unexpected to compare our property taxes and judge for themselves. While keeping property taxes competitive, Cochrane has managed to do so without limiting the services and assets it offers to the community. From a world-class tourist attraction in the Polar Bear Habitat, to a modern and highly regarded Tim Horton Events Centre, to modern schools, to high-calibre recreation and festivals that rank amongst the most prominent in the province, Cochrane truly understands how to provide the best of services at the most competitive of costs.

Appreciating property values

With the largest gold mine in North America, two world-class forestry mills, and large-scale green power initiatives, Cochrane’s economy is amongst the most vibrant in Northern Ontario. Combined with its historical economic diversity, Cochrane‘s property values are actually appreciating. Buy a home or business here and enjoy one of the few opportunities in Northern Ontario to secure your investment and even grow it.

“With the largest gold mine in North America, two world-class forestry mills, a resurrected agriculture industry and a green-energy platform, Cochrane has one of the most diversified and best positioned economies in the region,” Politis said. “At the same time, we have placed a focus on nurturing and growing the greatest way of life in the best backyard on the planet.”

“To live in Cochrane, Ontario, is to live in a robust economy with a progressive and welcoming social environment, while also enjoying the opportunity to discover the outdoors at its wildest and in its most pristine condition.”