A chance to invest in our communities

As the old saying goes, “Be careful for what you wish!”
At the recent “community summit” here, Michael Atkins, publisher of Northern Ontario Business, offered this idea: “If the business community does not believe it is the job to renew its community, then it probably won’t happen.”
Several years ago, the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce, Northwest Development Association, and Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association began lobbying the Ontario government to establish an investment pool that would create a new source of capital for businesses to start up or grow.
The result is the Northern Ontario grow bonds program that’s just come into being.
And it comes at just the right time to help several projects currently being held on the backburner across Rainy River District.
For instance, at the “community summit,” the local tourism and agriculture sectors identified that new methods of financing had to be developed. The “grow bonds” program may be one of the solutions.
All too often, we have used the excuse in this district that financing for projects could not be found or that government programs could not help private business. This excuse is now past.
The government listened and now we, as Northern Ontario residents, have to put our money where our mouths used to be. We get to invest in ourselves, our friends, and the businesses and industries found in the north.
We are offered a chance to renew the community.
The program only will be successful, however, if we, as residents, are prepared to invest in our small- and medium-sized businesses and industries that exist or could exist in the area.
For investors, the Northern Ontario program is a secure investment guaranteed by the province with competitive rates. Only Northern Ontario residents can invest, and your investment in grow bonds can be anywhere between $100 and $500,000.
Northern Ontario residents can use the program in their RRSP or RESP programs, or as separate investments. The important focus of the Northern Ontario grow bonds program is that the pool of money raised can be made available to businesses in the north in the form of loans.
This is a secure method for district residents to invest in the future of the district—to invest in new jobs and technologies that could be made available here.
And by investing, we invest in jobs and business for our children and their children.