The purpose of CONVERGX® Presents The Basecamp of The Kootenays is to layer the CONVERGX® model of bringing various x-sector industries together to create cross-sector collaborations, onto the vast untapped opportunities represented by The City of Cranbrook and area.
ConvergX®is celebrated its 7th year bringing distinguished x-sector industry decision makers together in intimate settings. Over the last six years, the annual ConvergX® Congress has spawned 70 cross industry deals.
Delegates are vetted to ensure they occupy a senior position within an X-sector industry (energy, mining, aerospace, defence, security, construction, agriculture, military, and government) and are able to make business decisions on behalf of their organization.
Cranbrook, BC (November 10, 2021) – More than fifty communities across BC including the City of Cranbrook have signed up to take part in the second phase of the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) Regional Pilot.
The program – a partnership between these communities and the province – is designed support economic growth in smaller regional communities by working to attract and welcome new entrepreneurs to open businesses, one that the City of Cranbrook is proud to be a part of.
“We are experiencing record-breaking growth in our city and we can offer entrepreneurs a wonderful place to call home, “ says Darren Brewer, Economic Development Officer with the City of Cranbrook “We have it all: a booming economy, and the amenities of a large urban center. We just need the right entrepreneurs to seize this opportunity.”
“We are proud to be a part of this pilot project, it will provide a path for entrepreneurs who can support innovation and growth in our City,” Brewer added. “This will bring new investment which will positively impact our City and our residents.”
“The Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot has the potential to grow the Cranbrook economy through the attraction of new businesses,” says Helen Barron, Executive Director of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce. “This program will also provide rural BC the opportunity to showcase our communities and demonstrate the benefits of immigrating to smaller towns in the province, rather than just our urban centres.”
We’re updating our Downtown Plan, which will feed into the development of a Downtown Revitalization Master Plan for #Cranbrook.
What is a Master Plan?
This long-term planning document is a conceptual layout that guides future growth and development of downtown. Analysis, recommendations and proposals for the economy, population, housing, transportation land use and community facilities downtown are all included in this dynamic document. To learn more about the City of Cranbrook Downtown Revitalization Master Plan visit the project website, visit: https://downtown-cranbrook.ca/
The stone archway entrance to Cranbrook has a new entity. Flying alongside the flags of Canada, B.C., USA and the City of Cranbrook is a new one—the Ktunaxa Nation flag.
The City of Cranbrook and the Ktunaxa Nation are working together to mutual benefit. The flying of the Ktunaxa Nation flag is one of the first visible pieces of this relationship, but even bigger projects are in the works.
Here’s how this government-to-government (G2G) relationship got started and where it’s headed.
Getting to know our neighbours
Janice Alpine is the Business Development Officer/Tourism Engagement with the Ktunaxa Nation Council Economic & Investment Sector. Since 2017, she has been spearheading the Ktunaxa Nation Branding Initiative for the Ktunaxa Nation Council, which has included interpretive signs along our highways in the region. Janice said that the signs offer the Ktunaxa Creation and the story of the Ktunaxa.
Janice has been working with the business sector throughout the region, including businesses in the tourism sector, and many projects such as the Columbia River Treaty Heritage project.
“Right now we have an excellent relationship with the business sector in the Kootenay region,” she said.
One day in 2018, Janice received a phone call from Darren Brewer, Business Development Officer (BDO) with the City of Cranbrook.
“He was the first BDO to ever approach the Ktunaxa Nation,” Janice said.
That phone call was the start of a conversation that has led to a gratifying and productive relationship between the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the City of Cranbrook, with the first visible outcome being the raising of the Ktunaxa flag. The City does have a relationship with the ʔaq̓am community but not with the Ktunaxa Nation Council.
June 21, 2021 is National Indigenous Day, an ideal day for the Ktunaxa flag to join the flags of Canada, B.C., USA and the City of Cranbrook. Many dignitaries were present, including Mayor Lee Pratt and Hon. Sophie Pierre, Former Chief of the Ktunaxa Nation.
“The City is flying the Ktunaxa flag in recognition that we are both here,” said Janice.
“I refer to this as history in the making,” she said, “because it’s a government-to-government relationship between the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the City of Cranbrook.”
A cultural interpretive centre
Janice and Darren are working on several other initiatives but the most exciting one is what Janice refers to as “the big idea.” They want to bring to fruition an interpretative centre—for lack of a better term at this point—in Cranbrook that will serve as a visitor centre as well as a cultural centre.
“The vision for the infrastructure is to tell the story of the Ktunaxa and to create a workplace for our artisans to show their skills as well as to manufacture and sell their artwork,” Janice said.
The building itself would reflect the Ktunaxa people and be an attraction to visitors and residents alike. Currently, the Cranbrook Visitor Centre is a collaboration among Cranbrook Tourism, the City of Cranbrook and the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce.
This project has received $93,500 in funding from the Columbia Basin Trust and the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC). A feasibility study is now underway, which includes finding a highly visible location, such as a site on Highway 95.
Both Darren and Janice are very excited to get to work.
“Indigenous tourism is an underserved and emerging sector in the tourism space,” said Darren, who cited excellent regional examples including St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino and Ainsworth Hot Springs.
Other Cranbrook–Ktunaxa initiatives
The City of Cranbrook is currently working on downtown revitalization, and Darren calls the Ktunaxa Nation a key stakeholder and pillar in this initiative. The Nation owns one of the most beautiful historic buildings in the downtown—the former Central School, which contains their offices. To date, over $100,000 has been awarded to this revitalization initiative.
Two other City of Cranbrook projects underway are its Official Community Plan (OCP) and the Cranbrook Tourism Master Plan. Darren said the timing of this G2G partnership is perfect as their work can tie into both plans.
“It’s about accurately portraying our community and all its members in these plans,” Darren said.
Two other projects that are in the works are the ʔaq̓am community solar farm on lands they own adjacent to the Canadian Rockies International Airport on the outskirts of Cranbrook.
ʔaq̓am also plans to develop land adjacent to the Northstar Rails to Trails near Wycliffe. Currently called St. Mary’s Park, the land will be renamed to the ʔaq̓am Park. This park will feature trails and other low-impact amenities.
Going forward
Both Janice and Darren are proud and excited about future prospects of their relationship.
“We’re crafting a mutually beneficial relationship,” said Darren. “We’re creating a framework here for these G2G partnerships with the Ktunaxa.”
Janice considers their collaborative work part of reconciliation as it involves engaging in meaningful relations and includes calls to action.
As she said about herself and Darren, “We’re the boots on the ground.”
Cranbrook, BC (September 7, 2021) – The City of Cranbrook is a recipient of $50,000 from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) for the development of its Tourism Master Plan. One of 27 applicants to the ESTI-BC, the city was successfully awarded the grant funding.
The City also secured $20,000 from Columbia Basin Trust (the Trust) to further fund the Tourism Master Plan and $5,000 from the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK), which along with the City’s investment of $18,500 brings the total project value to $93,500.00.
“We are thankful to ESTI-BC, Columbia Basin Trust and the RDEK for their investment into our community,” said Mayor Lee Pratt. “This funding will allow the city to look ahead and build out a tourism strategy that will best exemplify what the Cranbrook has to offer British Columbia, Canada, and the world.”
“The team at ETSI-BC is delighted to support the City of Cranbrook on this initiative,” says Laurel Douglas, CEO of ETSI-BC. “This project aligns with our strategic pillar of building economic development capacity and supporting regional economic development partnerships in the Southern Interior of BC. We look forward to the outcomes of this tourism strategy initiative.”
“We are pleased to support the City, the Ktunaxa Nation Council, the Cranbrook Chamber and Cranbrook Tourism to develop a plan to further tourism opportunities as an economic driver in the Cranbrook area,” says Will Nixon, Columbia Basin Trust, Senior Manager, Delivery of Benefits. “The community of Cranbrook and Ktunaxa ʔamakʔis are places of great beauty and history that are full of recreational opportunities. This partnership will ensure that residents and visitors alike benefit from a well-developed plan.”
“We are witnessing an increase in active transportation within our region as our trails and recreational opportunities gain local, provincial, national and international awareness. There are tremendous health and economic benefits that go along with the implementation of a well-designed tourism strategy, and we are proud to support the City of Cranbrook in the development of its Tourism Master Plan,” says RDEK Board Chair Rob Gay.
This $50,000 grant from ETSI-BC is the maximum amount of funding per project that ETSI-BC provides in its Building Economic Development Capacity funding stream.
In partnership with Cranbrook Tourism, the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce, and the Ktunaxa Nation Council a Tourism Master Plan will help guide the City’s decision making around tourism initiatives while also providing a clear vision and mission to bolster current tourism assets in in the region. Serving as a “Basecamp for Adventure,” Cranbrook has tremendous recreation opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts and a blossoming downtown scene.
The City’s Downtown Revitalization Master Plan is currently under development and will serve as an important element to attract investment and promote further tourism opportunities in the heart of our community.
–30–
Quotes –
“This is a watershed moment for our tourism sector. It’s time to polish the unplucked gem,” said Darren Brewer, Business Development Officer at the City of Cranbrook. “We will create an inclusive and bold vision for our city and invite everyone in our community to participate.”
“In a short period of time we worked in collaboration and were able to develop a meaningful relationship with the City of Cranbrook, the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce and Cranbrook Tourism,” added Janice Alpine, Business Development Officer and Tourism Engagement with the Ktunaxa Nation Council. “Our ideals in working together is to develop and understand how Tourism and Heritage Tourism is a tool to help our perspectives merge.”
“Creating this plan is both exciting and critical in setting the future direction for tourism in our region,” said Kristy Jahn-Smith, Executive Director of Cranbrook Tourism. “Hearing what residents and local business want for the future will be key to the process, ensuring we move forward in a productive and sustainable way. The plan will ensure we are inclusive and forward thinking, while also maximizing collaboration between key partners and ensuring businesses and residents benefit from growth of the tourism economy.”
“Cranbrook has been working hard to foster its tourism sector and has made great strides in doing so. The Cranbrook Chamber is pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the City of Cranbrook, Cranbrook Tourism, and the Ktunaxa Nation to develop a Tourism Master plan to guide us as we continue to grow this important part of our economy,” said Helen Barron, Executive Director of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce.
For more information, please contact:
Darren Brewer Bradley Jones
Economic Development Officer Policy & Legislative Analyst/Communications
A Decade in And City of Cranbrook’s One Percent Dedicated Road Tax Continues to Pay Off
Cranbrook, BC (June 14, 2021) – Major investments into our roads and infrastructure thanks to the 1% dedicated road tax continues to show a significant increase in the amount of road paving completed annually, greatly improving the overall quality of our streets in the City of Cranbrook.
Since its inception in 2010, about $14,038,000 has been collected through the 1% dedicated road tax and earmarked completely to improving the roads in Cranbrook. It started in 2010 with about $180,000 and in 2020 the road dedicated tax reached $2.5 million. The City has spent approximately $49.8 million on the overall road program since 2010 including $10 million in borrowing to repair and replace all things related to road work including pavement, curb, gutter along with storm, water, and sanitary sewer infrastructure.
Infrastructure investment is closely linked with economic output and is of vital importance to make this City grow and develop. With the municipal election in 2015 and a new Mayor and Council coming on board, this became a priority. The local economy has benefited from the 1% road tax. Positive changes to the City’s tendering processes have helped significantly to keep tax dollars local and employ local contractors and workers.
“We brought in positive changes to the City’s overall tendering process to allow local contractors to bid on this important work. Local contractors were successful in being awarded these contracts at significant savings to the taxpayer,” says Mayor Lee Pratt.
“In 2010, it was the norm to issue only one or two big contracts for our road work, whereas now we typically issue four or five separate contracts each year,” says Mike Matejka, Manager of Infrastructure Planning and Delivery for the City of Cranbrook. “What this change has done is diversified our investment into the local economy, with multiple contractors having opportunities to take part in roadworks, while ensuring strong competition for good prices and quality of work.”
Large parts of our arterial road network has seen major investments over the past six years, which covers most heavy traffic areas used by our emergency response vehicles, commercial and transit traffic. 11th Avenue South, 2nd Street South, Cobham Avenue, College Way, Industrial Road 2, and Theatre Road have had significant reconstruction work completed to a very high standard which will ultimately reduce long-term maintenance and life cycle costs for taxpayers. A significant number of residential streets have also been able to have paving and infrastructure renewal work done thanks to this investment.
An important and quite visible part of the capital roads program is repaving activities.
“The overall road conditions in Cranbrook are trending in a positive direction due to the dedicated tax investments, and we are very much in line with other cities across the province,” says Matejka. “There is still a lot of work left to do and looking ahead our residents can expect continued growth in the amount of work done year over year.”
Looking ahead over the next five years, the dedicated road tax is expected to add another nearly $17 million to our capital roads program by 2025. For the 2021 capital roads program, several roads will be receiving upgrades and resurfacing from the 1% road tax including, Victoria Avenue, 14th Avenue, Theatre Road, 30th Avenue and Innes Avenue. Reconstruction on both 30th Avenue and Innes Avenue is well underway with major upgrades to these road structures to accommodate bus traffic.
The remaining resurfacing projects will see work beginning in the coming weeks with completion scheduled for the end of July.
Kootenay businesses needing to ship their products now have a new way to compare available shipping options and connect with other businesses to share shipping costs, using the Kootenay Shipping website and Facebook Group.
KootenayShipping.com aims to simplify the process of finding a suitable shipper in our region. From basic parcel shipping to freight and cold chain services, the website allows businesses to find and compare shipping services. The Facebook Group “Kootenay Shipping” is for local business owners to talk about their shipping needs and find opportunities to support each other.
Cranbrook, BC (May 17, 2021) – Finding out how many people live in certain neighborhood in Cranbrook or how many people moved to this community last year is easy to find with just one click.
Our residents, business owners, potential investors and developers regularly have questions like these and we have compiled many of those answers from reliable, trusted sources in an easy to understand, visual format that puts the fun in data. The new public data portal can be found on Choose Cranbrook – the City’s economic development website at www.choosecranbrook.ca.
“Data is a great tool for innovation and development. This is our dashboard for our community and will help residents, stakeholders and City staff make informed and educated decisions,” says Darren Brewer , Business Development Officer with the City of Cranbrook. “This is an important first step for us to achieving open data.”
The City of Cranbrook secured the services of Ruby Industries, a Kelowna based data sciences start-up and creators of Cityviz.
“Investors, developers, entrepreneurs, economic development officers and public can now use Cityviz to gain insights into Cranbrook’s community profile, economic indicators as well as overlay existing businesses and facilities over demographic indicators on an interactive map,” says Izabela Bogdanovic of Ruby Industries Inc. “We appreciate the variety of business environments in which our communities operate, and we are dedicated to helping everyone grow and prosper. We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership with City of Cranbrook and are excited to be a part of its success and prosperity.”
Cranbrook, BC (March 30, 2021) — With Monday’s announcement from the Province around the three-week COVID-19 circuit breaker which in part reduces services that restaurants can provide to only allowing take-out or delivery unless an outdoor patio is in place, the City of Cranbrook will be rolling out a program over the next few days to help our local restaurants.
“The City has had a downtown seasonal outdoor patio program in place for several years. For the last few weeks, staff has been working on some program revisions for exactly this purpose – to allow restaurants to easily expand outdoor seating capacity during the pandemic,” says Mayor Lee Pratt. “This would support business by providing space for additional customers and further encourage vibrancy in our downtown and at other restaurant establishments right across the community.”
Monday’s announcement has encouraged the City to speed up this project to help our local business community during this time.
Council will be meeting over the next few days to discuss the program further and ensure all the necessary approvals are in place.
The City will be reaching out to both the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Association over the next few days to help us get this program moving and provide important information to those establishments.
Basin businesses owners, creators, and experience operators, this is your chance to shine!
The upcoming #BuyBasin Festival is looking to feature you in this unique Facebook event designed to bring you more shoppers, clients, and/or customers.
This national award-winning experience has proven to generate business growth for those participating.
The #BuyBasin Festival includes coaching to get you or your team ready for your festival moment as well as personalized coaching to empower your digital success beyond the festival.
Please register for #BuyBasin Festival Digital Readiness Webinar for Thursday, April 1, 1 pm PST/ 2 pm MST.
During this FREE one-hour Webinar you’ll receive digital media training, an understanding of what it means to be part of the #BuyBasin Festival, and a chance to sign up for a spot in the lineup right away!
There are limited spaces available in the #BuyBasin Festival lineup so please attend the Webinar ready to say “yes” to growing your business.
Attending this Webinar is mandatory to be part of the #BuyBasin Festival.
The #BuyBasin Festival will take place on Facebook from March 23rd to April 23rd. You don’t want to miss this chance to join in the fun and see your business grow in 2021!
The #BuyBasin Festival is powered by The Trust, FestivalSeekers, The Basin Business Advisors Program, local media across the Basin and a collection of Chambers of Commerce.
What is the #BuyBasin Festival?
A unique Facebook event designed to celebrate and build up local businesses, creators, and experiences.
100 local entrepreneurs, creators, and experiences will be going LIVE on Facebook this spring with expert tips, giveaways, demos, live music, and all kinds of behind-the-scenes fun.
This is a chance for locals and those further away to #BuyBasin, virtually explore Basin businesses and more.
Expect a new lineup of LIVE local videos on Facebook every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from March 23 – April 23.
These LIVE Facebook broadcasts will be shared to the #BuyBasin Festival event page throughout the festival run, so tune in often.
https://www.facebook.com/events/718089395555734
You can also catch each of the LIVE videos on the @BasinBusinessAdvisors or @FestivalSeekers Facebook pages.
The #BuyBasin Festival is powered by The Trust, FestivalSeekers, The Basin Business Advisors Program, local media across the Basin and a collection of Chambers of Commerce.
The City of Cranbrook is pleased to announce ConvergX Cranbrook, a two‑day regional leadership event bringing together decision‑makers, industry partners, innovators, and community leaders to …
When Louis Nelson first arrived in Cranbrook, he wasn’t planning to stay. He came to manage a struggling Domino’s Pizza location, one of the lowest-performing …
If you’ve walked through downtown Cranbrook lately, you’ve probably noticed the Baker Hotel. Not just for its century-old architecture, but for the energy it brings …
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By agreeing you accept the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.
