Attracting tech workers in a global economy means offering an attractive community — tree-filled and with access to public green space. That is what Kanata has been for many decades.
The Citizen invited candidates in the Oct. 24 municipal election to share their thoughts:
As a teacher, I always tried to help students see how interconnected everything is. As the city councillor for Kanata North, I also try to help people understand how things they may not see as connected to one another, actually are.
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How is the Kanata North Tech Park connected to saving the Kanata Lakes Golf course? How are improved health outcomes related to both? How does preventing development on the golf course increase revenues for the city? Let’s see if I can help connect the dots.
Many people do not realize that the Kanata Lakes Golf Course is a golf course for six months of the year and the equivalent of a public park for six months of the year. With open, accessible green space, people can walk, snowshoe, ski and ride the pathways in the evenings and after the golf season ends. That is good for Kanata residents’ physical and mental health. And, it is what attracts people to live in Kanata.
When the Tech Park companies are trying to attract people to work in any one of the over 540 technology companies in the Tech Park, people have to weigh other world locations (which may have warmer weather!) against what we have to offer in Kanata/Ottawa. People want to live in green, tree-filled locations with access to public green space.
Green space is what has attracted people to Kanata for many decades. As a result, the Tech Park grew, bringing in billions of dollars of revenue to Ottawa and Canada. As jobs were created, houses were built and property tax revenue grew as well. Ottawa as a whole became a hub for technology start-ups.
That reputation continues today as more and more global companies set up in our Tech Park.
Today, talent attraction is becoming more and more of a global challenge. Companies with strong environmental policies in their countries of origin prefer to expand in countries/cities with equivalently strong environmental policies. The more we have as a ward and as a city to offer entrepreneurs and families in terms of beautiful green, healthy places to live and raise a family, the more we attract skilled, qualified and talented people to the jobs in our technology sector.
Sadly, the whole issue of building houses on our green space, including the destruction of our forests, came about because a company decided that even though it signed an agreement with full knowledge of the “40 per cent agreement” to keep the land as a golf course and public green space forever, it decided that it did not feel like adhering to the agreement.
As Sir Terrance Matthews aptly points out when he speaks to me, and all of us, about this topic, this is not about golf. It is about integrity. Integrity is what Kanata was built on. I intend to ensure that foundation is maintained.
