Opportunity always knocks to Harold Wilson.
That is why the new president and CEO of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce is excited about the unlimited potential of the mineral exploration industry in northwestern Ontario.
He remembers all too well how Thunder Bay missed the boat in the mid-1980s in not capitalizing on the supply opportunities when the Hemlo gold complex was opening up on the north shore of Lake Superior.
Under Wilson, the chamber has taken a leadership in raising local business' awareness of the huge economic potential of the Ring of Fire and how it will flow new dollars into the Thunder Bay economy.
The light industrial parks are filling up with junior miner exploration offices and there are opportunities for suppliers to jump in and get involved.
"There's been a lot of activity taking place and has been for a lot of people below their radar."
He takes the business advocacy role seriously.
He's out pounding the pavement in Thunder Bay, taking the pulse of his members and gathering street level information.
"Part of what a chamber's role is educating your members about opportunities that are there and the only way to do that is to educate yourselves too."
But instead of the local business community waiting for opportunity to come to them, he's noticed an attitudinal change where suppliers, who once catered to the forestry industry, are hustling for new work.
He points to Thunder Bay's Oil Sands Consortium, where normally competing local machine and steel fabrication shops have banded together to bid on projects in Western Canada.
Wilson was hired to replace Mary Long-Irwin who resigned June 30 after nine years in the position.
Shaking hands with business leaders across Northern Ontario is familiar turf. Wilson has a diverse background working in economic development in northeastern Ontario and Western Canada.
He has served stints as the Thunder Bay-based manager of the Trade Investment and Strategy Sectors of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and worked for the Northern Ontario Development Network.
He held posts with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, on the provincial government's Smart Growth Panel, the Economic Developers Council of Ontario and had developed Nor'wester Valley Estates Subdivision.
While serving years ago with the now-defunct Ministry of Trade and Technology, he was turned loose to conduct seminars and meet business owners ranging from logging companies in Red Lake to dock makers in Kenora.
"It was just fascinating. I got to go everyone and meet with companies."
Those proving ground gave him a unique insight on the enormous challenges faced by small business owners.
"There are opportunities everywhere out there but for a lot our business owners, there are only so many hours in day. There are issues of suppliers and customers, personnel, and equipment problems.
"Where's the time to think about export or innovation?
Wilson said for small businesses to become medium-sized enterprises they need management support to go on trade missions and learn about practices like LEAN manufacturing.
"One of the areas we need to work on is how do we help small business become medium size?"
For five years, beginning in 2003, he held the post of executive director of the Economic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta, a regional development organization based in Medicine Hat for five years.
Instead of letting the dominant oil and gas industry take care of itself, he embarked on a plan to make it even bigger, to take advantage of more opportunities, secure more jobs and push local suppliers to gain footholds in Saskatchewan and Montana.
For period he worked in the defence industry in Medicine Hat.
As a contract manager with Meggitt Training Systems Canada, he was part of growing high-tech cluster of knowledge that specialized in unmanned vehicle systems used as live-fire training platforms for the military and law enforcement.
He became the founding director of the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems working for attract investment and research dollars into Alberta.
Wilson said he would have liked to stay longer at Meggitt but it was an "compelling" opportunity to return to Thunder Bay and work in business development in a leadership role.
Even while in Medicine Hat, Wilson kept close tabs on Northern Ontario having read the McGuinty government's growth plan for the region and Bob Rosehart's 2008 report on economic growth opportunities.
Wilson said the government's Northern Growth Strategy's concept of establishing economic development zones "fills me with dread of a multi-year, dragged out process led by bureaucrats," instead of recognizing and fostering zones what already exist such as the commonalities of the Highway 11 communities.
What was remains an ongoing issue is the future of struggling forestry.
"I saw so many challenges coming on the horizon and there seem to be almost a pathological desire not to do anything. Let things take care of themselves, well they did to the dismay of communities and individual families."
There must be maximum value derived from wood allocation, said Wilson, who backs the Ontario Forest Industries Association's campaign to secure 26 million cubic metres of fibre for industry.
He said there are huge opportunities to secure forest resources for Northerners through the province's wood supply competition which will lead to new investment, new players and bio-products fuelled by the fibre.
