Cape Breton, NS – Cape Breton Island’s population is growing! In 2019, Cape Breton – Unama’ki welcomed 385 new permanent residents, surpassing the 2018 total of 270 new permanent residents, and the 2017 total of 195 new permanent residents.
“To grow our economy, we must grow our population, and immigration is a key component of that equation,” says Carla Arsenault, Cape Breton Partnership President & CEO. “To see that in two years we have nearly doubled the Island’s permanent residency admissions is very exciting for us.”
Specifically in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, 160 permanent residents were welcomed in 2017. This number has grown to 315 permanent residents in 2019.
“It is rewarding to see a lot of hard work paying off in this way. These numbers are a testament to the true value of promotion, partnerships and teamwork. I am committed to continuing this work with Council, staff and our business community as well as Cape Breton University and the Cape Breton Partnership to make us a business-friendly community, ensuring further growth,” says Mayor Cecil Clarke of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
As Cape Breton – Unama’ki’s economic development organization, supporting immigration efforts across the Island is a priority for the Cape Breton Partnership. In 2017, the Cape Breton Partnership became a regional partner to the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration in the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) Program. The AIP is an innovative program aimed at attracting and retaining skilled immigrants and international graduates to meet the unique workforce needs of the Atlantic region. The goal is to ensure the long-term retention and integration of newcomers in Atlantic Canada to help drive economic growth.
Since the launch of the AIP, 172 businesses in Cape Breton have been designated to participate in the program. Of these, 135 were directly supported through the process by the Cape Breton Partnership, and resulted in 156 skilled workers being endorsed by the province to settle in Cape Breton with their families. Many of these families have been welcomed already and many more will be arriving as their final federal immigration applications are approved.
Arsenault adds, “As an Island, we still have work to do to attract more people to Cape Breton – Unama’ki, but it’s encouraging to see that our efforts are having a positive impact and immigration will continue to be a priority for our organization.”
Throughout 2020, the Cape Breton Partnership will be hosting newcomer and immigration sessions around the Island that will include information on the immigration streams available to become a permanent resident and related information on financing, housing and more. Further updates will be provided once these sessions are scheduled. For more information, visit the Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada data for 2019 – https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/f7e5498e-0ad8-4417-85c9-9b8aff9b9eda .
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Media Contact:
Megan Tonet
Cape Breton Partnership
megan@capebretonpartnership.com
(902) 562-0122
Cape Breton Island, NS – Unama’ki – Cape Breton is home to companies who produce world-class products and services, and the Cape Breton Partnership’s Export Growth Service is committed to connecting those companies with the knowledge and resources they need to sell their products and services around the world.
The Export Growth Service works with small and medium-sized Cape Breton companies with a focus on three things: meeting with companies to assess their export needs and develop an export plan; providing navigation and guidance for existing export-related services and programs; and hosting workshops, training sessions and an annual export conference.
“Unama’ki – Cape Breton is a small island. With just over 132,000 people, we know that exporting our products and services is key to the growth of our businesses,” says Carla Arsenault, Cape Breton Partnership President & CEO. “Our Export Growth Service gives clients access to a host of experts focused on making export easier for Cape Breton companies by connecting them to national and international markets.”
A recent two-day training session put on by the Export Growth Service allowed 19 companies from across the Island to participate in Professional Selling Reinvented by Base Over Apex, a national company focused on professional sales training and coaching. Many of the participants were clients of the Export Growth Service, and represented a wide variety of sectors, including seafood, tourism, real estate, finance, the arts and information technology. The training covered understanding and managing time, business creation, selling processes, achieving higher success rates, how to keep customers and build a business.
“I can’t say enough good things about this training,” says Export Growth Service client, Deana Lloy of Red Label Kilts Inc. “So many new topics to digest! Very meaningful and I’m looking forward to applying several of the techniques.”
The Export Growth Service is overseen by an Export Development Team made up of representatives from the Cape Breton Partnership, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Business Development Bank of Canada, Nova Scotia Business Inc., and Nova Scotia Community College. The Export Growth Service also benefits from an Advisory Team comprised of experts from private sector, government, First Nations communities, and local industry.
To learn more about the Export Growth Service, contact Export Consultant Lan Zheng at export@capebretonpartnership.com.
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Media Contact:
Megan Tonet
Cape Breton Partnership
megan@capebretonpartnership.com
(902) 562-0122
Cape Breton Island, NS – Calling all jobseekers and employers with job vacancies!
The Cape Breton Partnership, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Works, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia Community College, and the Municipalities of the Counties of Inverness and Victoria, are hosting a series of job expos in Inverness, Sydney, and St. Ann’s for both seasonal and full-time employment opportunities.
The job expo series will provide hundreds of jobseekers the opportunity to meet with over 30 employers Island-wide. Employment and economic development service providers will also be on site for employers and jobseekers to discuss opportunities and resources that can help both groups.
“Cape Breton – Unama’ki has so many amazing companies, and many of them have job vacancies they are ready to fill. We also have many talented individuals looking for employment opportunities right here at home,” says Carla Arsenault, President & CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership. “As the Island’s private sector-led economic development organization, we are proud to help make these connections at our upcoming Job Expos.”
The three job expos will be held on March 24 (1 pm – 3pm, Inverness Firehall), March 26 (11 am – 2 pm, Cape Breton University), and March 31 (1pm – 3 pm, Colaisde na Gàidhlig / The Gaelic College).
Any Cape Breton employer is encouraged to participate in as many expos as possible to increase their access to talent on the Island. Employers can promote any number of available positions, and hold on-site interviews with interested candidates.
Employers interested in participating in the Cape Breton – Unama’ki Job Expo Series can visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CB2020JobExpo.
For more information, contact the Cape Breton Partnership at info@capebretonpartnership.com
or (902) 562-0122.
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Media Contact:
Jeremy Martell
Cape Breton Partnership
jeremy@capebretonpartnership.com
(902) 631-5442
Rejuvenation of Marconi Campus plans to bring new life to downtown Sydney
Story by Kathleen MacLeod, Elevate Magazine Editor
This article is an excerpt from the latest issue of Elevate Magazine, the Cape Breton Partnership’s business magazine that was created to bring a fresh perspective to local business success stories. Elevate highlights stories from small start-ups to organizations that employ hundreds of Cape Bretoners. To view the archive of previous editions of Elevate Magazine and to stay up to date on Cape Breton’s growing business community, click here.
Nova Scotia Community College’s (NSCC) Marconi Campus will soon have a new, contemporary home on downtown Sydney’s waterfront. With a significant investment from the province of Nova Scotia, this move will both strengthen student enrollment and support the revitalization of downtown Sydney.
“This project has so much potential for our future students, our employees, the college, our community and the province in general. This space will provide a rejuvenated spirit for our campus and will help inspire synergies in the downtown area that we need to help grow our community.”
Fred Tilley, NSCC Marconi Campus Principal
Encompassing the waterside of the Esplanade in Sydney from Falmouth Street to Crescent Street, the vision for the new campus is to create a destination with modern design, open spaces and state-of-the-art technology to create a dynamic learning environment that will attract students from across Nova Scotia and around the world.
With a current NSCC Marconi Campus enrollment of 1,078 students, NSCC is considering new programming that will take advantage of the waterfront location paired with designs to fulfill the needs within the community and industry ultimately helping to make the vision of NSCC Marconi Campus come to life.
The construction of NSCC Marconi Campus is expected to begin in May of 2020 with the campus officially opening in September 2024.
In addition, NSCC is currently in the process of constructing a residence at the NSCC Strait Areas Campus in Port Hawkesbury.
The 20,000-square-foot residence will house 51-beds, with students expected to move in by September 2020.
Having an on-campus residence gives the Strait Area Campus the potential for more enhanced programs at their Nautical Institute.
Cape Breton Island, NS – A new tourism season extension program that provides wage subsidies and skills development is being applauded by participating tourism businesses and organizations. The initiative, supported by the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia, and local tourism partners was launched in July 2019 to assist the long-term sustainable health of the tourism economy.
As one example, Two Rivers Wildlife Park received a 50% wage subsidy for three employees for four weeks through the program. The subsidy allowed the Park to continue the development of its winter offering, which includes such things as its Winter Light-Up event, snowshoeing trails, and the winterization of four new cabins.
“It’s a great program and it really helped us out,” says Park representative Rosemary MacLean. “It is a boost for the economy and for helping Cape Breton’s tourism season to become year-round.”
The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS) and the Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council (NSTHRC) are working with regional industry partners to provide operators with toolkits to improve human resources practices, deliver service excellence training, and provide access to apply to a wage subsidy for operating outside the traditional tourism season. Regional partners for the program on Cape Breton Island are the Cape Breton Partnership and Destination Cape Breton.
There is still an opportunity for tourism operators to participate in the program through online skills training modules for such careers as bartenders, event coordinators, heritage interpreters, food and beverage servers, front desk agents, reservation sales agents, among many others. This online training is available free of charge, but interested operators need to sign up by March 31, 2020. Operators interested in participating in the program or those who would like more information should call the Cape Breton Partnership at 902-562-0122 or email info@capebretonpartnership.com.
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Media Contact:
Lisa Dahr, Director, Industry Relations & Professional Development
TIANS/NSTHRC
(902) 422-5249
lisa@tourism.ca