As many of you probably know, the WFP believes the Economic
Development Department should be dissolved due to the high cost and
lack of results. Town Hall has admitted that the Economic
Development Department has not brought one business to town, in all
the years Goodall has been drawing a salary at the taxpayers
expense. They said she has not tried to solicit businesses
directly, and said her role was to ‘field and direct economic
development inquiries’, basically, answer the phone if someone
calls. Last year we talked to several businesses in Wingham,
to see if they had any contact with the department head. We
wanted to know if she went business to business and informing them
of all the government grants available, about wage subsidies
available, co-operative advertising opportunities, etc. The
answers were all NO.
WFP thought the role of a responsible economic development officer
would be to improve the health of existing businesses, and actively
solicit businesses for which a gap exists. When Town Hall
failed to help get the required approvals for the Canadian Tire
store, it dragged on so long the interested parties virtually gave
up on Wingham. This failure was Town Hall’s fault, for they
were not proactive in helping get the required approvals. Long
after this monumental screw up happened, Town Hall tried to blame
the Wingham Free Press for scaring them away, then they tried to
back peddle and said I meant stores ‘like’ Canadian Tire”. A
responsible ED Officer would have tried to find a similar business
to fill the gap
