THUNDER BAY -- Transportation and property taxes for the manufacturing sector are weaknesses for the city on a global level but it does have strengths in the services sector.
That's according to a new presentation from the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission analyzing data from KPMG's Alternative Cost Model. The city was one of 142 cities across the world that bought into KPMG's data.
The CEDC made part of its analysis public Wednesday morning though tbnewswatch's access to the full report through a Freedom of Information request was denied earlier this month.
While still profitable, from aircraft parts to telecom equipment an analysis of a dozen manufacturing industries shows that transportation and property taxes are the major weaknesses in the city. CEDC CEO Doug Murray said while the city would be well-positioned to ship anything manufactured to the mid-west United States, the KMPG model only factors in a city's ability to ship across the world.
"That's the weakness for us," he said.
There were no strengths found for any of the 12 manufacturing sectors analyzed.
On the service sector side, from video game production to clinical trials management, the city shows no weakness. It's strength lies in facility costs.
"We did well we did very well on that and obviously those are sectors we would like to continue to grow in Thunder Bay," he said.
The challenge is to get the city's labour force educated to land jobs in things like software development should those companies choose to open up in Thunder Bay.
Murray said the high cost of living in cities like Vancouver could start driving companies to look elsewhere.
"Those are things that we can turn into an advantage," he said.
