February 2017 | Business View Magazine

188 189 County of Brant, Ontario the last five years, we’ve exceeded two million square feet of new and expanded buildings in the County. As a result, more than 1,600 direct jobs have been created.” “So, we’re starting to really experience some fairly rapid growth,” adds Paul Emerson, Chief Administrative Officer.“We’ve seen a lot of change in the last five years and we anticipate a lot more to come.There’s a lot of interest from various businesses looking to relocate.” Some major firms have al- ready made the move to the County’s new busi- ness park. “For example, Adidas looked around the entire country of Canada and decided that this would be a good location for their national distribution center,” says Emerson. “And there are many other industries that are locating or expanding here –Tigercat Industries, being one. They compete, head-on, with Caterpillar and John Deere and have a good share of the for- estry equipment marketplace. They just looked at this loca- tion to do a fairly significant expansion.” Emerson adds that another new business park for the County is on the drawing boards. Meanwhile, Brant’s main business district AT A GLANCE County of Brant, Ontario WHAT: A county of 40,000 WHERE: Approximately 60 miles southwest of Toronto WEBSITE: www.brant.ca is in the community of Paris, a town of about 12,000 that sits on the confluence of the Grand and Nith Rivers. Paris was first settled in 1829 and officially established as a town in 1850. It was named for the nearby deposits of gypsum, used to make plaster of Paris. Once called ‘The Cobblestone Capital of Canada’ because of its number of aged cobblestone houses, Par- is’ downtown has responded to the County’s growth with what Emerson calls, “a fairly signif- icant resurgence. I see higher-end restaurants, higher-end specialty clothing and jewelry stores going in,” he relates. “There’s a small conference center. A number of the older buildings are be- ing torn down or completely re-purposed with high-end retail and condominium living. And there’s a bunch more on the books. So, we’re seeing an increased vibrancy of the downtown core. And it’s going to look a lot different five years from now as some of these condo devel- opments come on and some of these stores continue to revitalize themselves. It’s really dramatic. It’s amazing what’s happened in the Brantford, Ontario, Canada: Toll Free 1-877-495-9542 n 519-758-8100 n www.patriotforge.com Patriot Forge is recognized globally as a supplier of forged and further processed components destined for critical applications. With the recent investments in our Brantford and Paris, Ontario facilities we have significantly increased both capability and capacity to support the evolving needs of our customers. The largest custom open-die forging company in Canada and a leader in the global market.