Canadian cities hope unified voice will help attract foreign direct investment

May expand from current 11

An ever-expanding number of Canadian cities are banding together to promote the advantages of foreign direct investment (FDI) in innovative Canadian firms. Going under the name of C-11, the municipalities have developed a website (www.ConsiderCanada.com) and are seeking project funding from the federal government to take their sales and marketing efforts to the next level.

The unified front being forged by C-11 marks a major move forward for Canadian cities that have developed or are developing powerful technology clusters as an engine of economic development.

"It's a great idea, really positive. I've long felt that cities don't get enough time and attention," says Dr David Wolfe, professor of political science at the Univ of Toronto, co-director of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems and national coordinator of the Innovation Systems Research Network. "There have been groupings of cities before but this one is unique in that it's focused and has a specialized view with respect to trade and investment and the R&D capabilities of Canadian cities. Highlighting cluster strength is also very encouraging ... There's a lot of inter-city competition so banding together is a good strategy"

The concept of linking cities rather than competing on an individual basis was born in 2007 in Calgary when economic development executives from eight cities convened to discuss a common marketing strategy. Through twice-annual meetings, the group has grown to its current membership of 11, with the latest meeting held this month in Ottawa when a new website was launched.

"The question now is, how do we get more effective and do projects? We're working with DFAIT (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) and we're in sync with federal S&T priorities," says Mike Darch, executive director of global marketing at the Ottawa Research and Innovation Centre (OCRI), adding that projects will be funded on a cost sharing basis. "C-11 is marketing and sales but it's also related to policy. There's a growing body of information that begins to address the emerging role of city regions. At the working level, that means clustering."

C-11 hopes to access DFAIT funding from its Invest in Canada - Community Initiatives program. Darch says federal investment through DFAIT will assist the group in attracting US investment to its member municipalities and alerting potential investment sources to Canadian S&T strengths, with an initial project aimed at mounting US investment seminars. Other initiatives under development are a second-generation web site and federal funding to document city regions globally and explore investment impediments such as talent and skilled immigration.

C-11 initiative must include sales

Now that C-11 is gaining visibility and traction, several basic housekeeping issues need to be addressed such as the group's incorporation, governance details and a fee structure. A number of working groups have been established to deal with projects, governance and economic policy drivers. Darch says once the group is firmly established, it will consider membership from other cities that have expressed an interest, including London ON and Moncton NB.

One observer and an expert on cities says C-11 must be engaged in sales as well as marketing if it wants to be successful in attracting FDI investment to Canada. Alan Broadbent, chairman and CEO of Avana Capital Corp and chair of both the Maytree Foundation and the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, says investment attraction requires "feet on the ground" to sell potential investors on the merits of any particular city.

"I'm on the board of Investment Toronto which was created as a regional investment attraction vehicle. It sounds like a great idea conceptually but how will it actually work? That's where it becomes problematic," says Broadbent. "Marketing platforms are often set by governments and Canada has done a good job but the business of investment attraction is a sales job. That's where it gets really tricky. You're in the game or you're not."

Broadbent says it's important for C-11 to promote foreign direct investment at the local level because cities are often in the best position to highlight attributes that companies are most interested in: quality of life, political stability, talent, the capacity of educational institutions and the health care system.

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