The City of Peterborough hosted an open house on economic development on Monday evening (July 20) at Miskin Law Community Complex, looking for community feedback as it develops a five-year strategic plan to help shape the city’s economic future.
Attended by residents, business owners, councillors, mayoral and council candidates, and city staff, the session was led by Kevin McPhillips of McSweeney & Associates, the consulting firm retained by the city to facilitate the development of the plan.
“It’s really important that the core values of the community are reflected, so that as things change decision makers are still able to make decisions that reflect what’s been heard in the community,” said McPhillips.
Strategic plan consultation comes 18 months after city assumed responsibility for economic development
The initial public consultation of the economic development strategic plan comes 18 months after the City of Peterborough began delivering economic development and tourism services in-house, following a decision by the city and Peterborough County in early 2024 not to renew their tri-party funding agreement with Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED), a not-for-profit corporation that had been delivering economic development and tourism services on behalf of the city and county for more than 25 years.
As a result of the loss of $1.8 million in core funding from the city and county, PKED dissolved at the end of 2024, and the city and county assumed responsibility for delivering the services themselves. In early 2025, the city hired Darryl Julott as the city’s new director of economic development.
At Monday night’s open house, McPhillips began the presentation by detailing the new strategic planning process which no longer focuses on “chasing smokestacks” but rather is more proactive in its approach to investment attraction.
The traditional economic development approach taken by municipalities is to secure an anchor industry or employer that can attract residents who build a strong quality of life and place. On the other hand, McSweeney & Associates promote an approach that diversifies investment to create “economically sustainable communities.”
Community development is economic development
“Community development has really moved into economic development,” said McPhillips. “If you build a community where people are interested in putting down their roots … then businesses will actually follow.”
McPhillips said that the economic development strategy produced will be a “foundational piece” of all decision-making processes related to economic development, noting it provides a baseline for reasoning to allow municipalities to react and adapt to emerging external changes.
The economic sustainability model promotes diversifying investment opportunities to allow municipalities to better manage downturn in specific sectors or the loss of anchor companies, McPhillips said.
He also highlighted the importance of retaining existing businesses and growing established organizations.
Ashburnham Ward councillor Keith Riel, who is running for mayor in October’s municipal election, spoke at the event about the loss of Lufthansa inTouch and Woodward Inc. as indicative of what may happen if work is not done to retain major employers such as Quaker Oats.
“You should be looking at what we can do for them, not what they can do for us,” said Riel.
Housing and affordability pose challenges in attracting young professionals
McPhillips presented demographic data comparing Peterborough to the Ontario average in areas such as household income, age, employment, and housing.
In particular, he noted the low percentage of professional-age adults compared to students and seniors.
“It’s a question of, if folks aren’t coming home in their thirties at the same rate as other comparable municipalities, is there a reason why,” said McPhillips.
One challenge identified in retaining and reclaiming young professionals following post-secondary education was the lack of availability of entry-level homes. Peterborough has a high percentage of residences with three or more bedrooms and lacks an adequate one-room accommodation market.
Town Ward councillor Alex Bierk, who is also a professional artist, spoke at the event about the impact of corporate landlords on young families and business owners in the downtown core, saying that rental costs are not sustainable and that work should be done to enable businesses to purchase their buildings.
“With this consolidation of commercial landlords we’re all beholden to a system where they’re able to charge whatever they want for commercial rent and it makes it really impossible to have an opportunity to live here and build something,” Bierk said.
According to McPhillips, Peterborough’s top four industries, by number of employees, are healthcare and social assistance, retail trades, educational services, and accommodation and food services. He noted this as a strength due to the stability of healthcare services and providers; however, diversification of the labour force remains a priority of the McSweeney & Associates approach.
Throughout the presentation, McPhillips emphasized that data does not always tell the realities of residents’ lived experience, and that community feedback will take precedent in their analysis and planning process.
Community feedback to inform draft economic development plan
As the city are currently in the second phase of the strategic planning process, its priority has been to gather information, feedback, and ideas from a wide cross-section of stakeholders.
Attendees at Monday’s event were asked seven questions:
- What makes the City of Peterborough a great place to have a business?
- What makes it challenging to do business in the City of Peterborough?
- What are the top opportunities for attracting business and improving future economic growth in the City of Peterborough?
- What are the top opportunities for retaining business and improving future economic growth in the City of Peterborough?
- If you are a business, why did you locate in the City of Peterborough?
- If the City of Peterborough could resolve only one issue/challenge to encourage sustained business growth and investment in the local economy, what would it be?
- Describe your vision of the City of Peterborough over the next five to 10 years.
Residents who were unable to attend the event can provide answers to the questions by completing the survey at www.connectptbo.ca/ecdevstratplan/, which will be available until just before midnight on Monday (July 27).
One attendee said that bureaucratic processes put in place by the city are detrimental to attracting new business investment.
“They talk about welcoming business on the one side of the mouth, but they’re pretty hard on businesses on the other side,” she said.
Otonabee Ward councillor Kevin Duguay told kawarthaNOW that one role of city hall in promoting economic development is to ensure a “quality of place” through investing in community facilities, such as the Miskin Law Community Complex itself.
Some attendees, including Otonabee Ward councillor candidate Chris Potter, expressed concerns with the strategic planning process which starts afresh rather than directly evolving from existing documents.
“It just seems we are starting like we have never existed as a city before,” said Potter.
Following the open house, McSweeney & Associates will facilitate interviews and small in-person focus group sessions with selected representatives of key interest groups including local businesses, organizations, community groups, and city council.
According to the city’s website, a draft economic development strategic plan and implementation plan will be developed from August to September and shared with the public for feedback, with the final plan to be presented to city council in September or October.
