June 2018

174 175 CAMPBELL RIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA the place for more people-gathering places. Those are some of the places where we put money aside to match with individual businesses for improve- ments, and it’s a win-win situation.” In addition, Campbell River recently promoted a marketing initiative called the CR Advantage, after installing Van- couver Island’s first municipally-owned, broadband fiber network. Adams ex- plains: “In British Columbia, in order to get enterprise-level, broadband fiber, you needed to be in Vancouver, Victo- ria, or Kelowna – larger centers where Telus and Shaw provided an affordable rate structure for that enterprise level because they had the economies of scale with the number of customers that they had.What we decided to do here was make the investment, our- selves, and create a downtown loop that’s city-installed and city-owned. It’s a one-gig, simultaneous up and down- load speed, broadband fiber. It’s been in the works for a couple of years and we have just opened it up and contracted the first independent service provider to deliver the fiber. And we are working in partnership with Shaw Communica- tions as we connect with the main line coming from the lower mainland.” CR Advantage is a tool that the city employs to attract area firms, as well as high tech companies and incubators from neighboring cities such as Vic- toria, Vancouver, and Seattle. “You can have the fiber supply that you require to be able to do business in an office space that is a sixth of what you currently pay, and a quality of life and cost of living where your employees will be able to put a few more bucks in their pockets,”Adams exclaims. “And we’re getting some real good inter- est. In four months, we have five local businesses that have signed on; we have a sixth one that will be signed up next month. So, we’re expanding into tech, and expanding into more commercial retail, but still keeping close to the things that are the largest employers that we have here, which are the forest and aquaculture sectors, closely followed by tourism.” Adams adds some more good news about Campbell River’s economic renaissance. “Both mines that closed ten years ago, are now reopen- ing,” he states. “The quality and the grade of coal that we have here is such that there is a world market for it. They are beginning extraction now and starting to call people back to work. In its heyday, it was about 160 employees; they cur- rently have called back about 60 and the target is 180 within a year. The Nyrstar Mine is a little further along; they have a target of 380 employ- ees to call back within the next 18 to 24 months.” (Nyrstar Corporation owns the Myra Falls mine, which has a geologically diverse collection of minerals: zinc, copper, gold, lead, and silver.) As the local economy has heated up, Adams says that the city has kept pace in terms of its in- ternal operations. It is the first municipality in BC to complete its yearly financial plan before each subsequent fiscal year begins, which helps move