A survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business ranks North Bay 120 out of 121 Canadian places to start and grow businesses in 2015.
Only Montreal is lower, while the Calgary periphery ranks first.
Barrie ranks 26th, Timmins 71, Sault Ste. Marie 99 and Sudbury is 108.
The survey says, "It may seem obvious, but one of the surest signs of an entrepreneurial hot spot is the presence of a high concentration of entrepreneurs and a high business start-up rate. It is also important that business owners have high levels of optimism and success in their operations. Good public policy is also critical, so we look at the presence of supportive (or harmful) local government tax and regulatory policies."
See the full report: Canada’s top places to start and grow businesses in 2015.
Ted Mallett, Vice-President and Chief Economist of CFIB told BayToday that, "the aim of the report was to find the places with the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity.
"Our aim isn't to bash any municipality across the head with these results but point out the differences in the business ownership profile, the optimism levels and some of the public policy perspectives across municipalities."
The survey used 14 indicators in the final list.
"It's meant to be a discussion point," explained Mallett. "We have lots of business owner members in North Bay. It's not supposed to disparage their kind of work. What we are identifying are places where it may be more difficult to get off the ground as a result of various things.
"Our members have repeatedly said the cost of doing business, and the cost of complying with regulations are really the two major areas that municipal governments do have control over, and if we're able to get movement on those things then that's great."
Mallett is aware that North Bay sits on the crossroads of two major highways, has an airport that can handle the biggest planes in the world and is just three hours north of Toronto.
"It's going to take some individual business owners that are willing to take a gamble on investing big-time on certain kinds of businesses that make sense in the North Bay area, and hopefully get some levels of support --- moral support and backing by municipal leaders --- to be able to do this. Quite often small business owners get chastised for not being innovative or investing enough, but it's their livelihood they're putting on the line. They're betting big money on the success of their business.
"If there are policies out there at the local, provincial or national level that create a risk for that future potential, then they are not going to invest at all, and that's a shame.
"The North Bay community is going to do well in the types of businesses that really are served well by the junction of the highways or the airport, but there has to be other activity that justifies a lot of traffic at the airport as well. It needs that kind of virtuous circle. When good things start happening at the small level, then they start happening at the medium size, and then large businesses can take over.
"One of the long-standing beefs I have with general economic benefit committees is that they swing for the fences. They try to attract big businesses to come to town but not really paying a whole lot of attention to the local businesses that are already here, or where people are starting up their businesses. It's small scale. It's hard to do, its hard to see gradual progress but if you've got a good solid nicely functioning entrepreneurial culture with lots of small business activity, then the big guys will take care of themselves. They'll see that things are happening and they'll see the benefits of moving there. They don't move there because they're persuaded by governments, they move because it makes sense for their business."
Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette told us he's not surprised at the city's ranking, "We have a lot of work to do in North Bay. It shows that we need to start focusing even more on economic development.
"Council is on the right track with economic development," Forgette continued. "We're getting the ball rolling, but we still have more work to do and economic development investments to make."
