It’s a unique position for West Nipissing.
With both Sudbury and North Bay chosen to be part of a pilot program to attract skilled workers to Canada, the municipality has to decide does it become part of the program under Sudbury or North Bay.
The federal government announced the program last week which involves skilled immigrants filling job vacancies in Canada because the country faces a skills shortage crisis.
In addition to North Bay and Sudbury, three other northern cities were named in the pilot and they are Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.
That’s in addition to six other Canadian communities picked to be part of the program stretching from Manitoba to British Columbia.
Mayor Joanne Savage says when North Bay and Sudbury were applying to be part of the program, West Nipissing supported both applications because it lies between both cities.
But now that both are part of the program, West Nipissing has to decide does it go under the Sudbury banner or North Bay’s.
Savage says there are advantages to staying with both cities if that’s possible.
And according to the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, that’s exactly what West Nipissing can do.
Savage says she had a discussion with the chamber who told her it’s possible for the municipality to fall under both cities’ program.
But the Mayor adds that Sudbury called the municipality asking which city it will join.
As a result, Savage wants confirmation and clarification of its options from Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre.
Savage says if the municipality has to choose, then it will weigh the pros and cons and what are the advantages for West Nipissing.
During the council debate, councillor Dan Roveda said that because of its Francophone nature, Sudbury is trying to attract French-speaking immigrants and added that will work well for West Nipissing because of the bilingual makeup of the municipality.