Nostalgic resource town mindset has Kamloops unprepared for future of employment
KAMLOOPS — It’s difficult writing a column when you have to begin with these three words, “I was wrong”. But I was wrong, at least in my assumptions. Let me explain.
I have often spoken about economic development and in most instances intentionally not mentioned the three leading agencies in Kamloops: Venture Kamloops, Kamloops Innovation and Community Futures. By intentionally, I mean I didn’t think they were contributing much in the way of direct efforts, so why bother including them in the discussion? But I was wrong and not in a small way, at least as far as two of them go.
In researching this particular column, I reached out to all three agencies and asked for specifics on their efforts to attract, encourage or expand business growth in the city. I didn’t want to hear about studies or reports they had done but instead I asked for some real numbers and in all honesty, I didn’t expect to hear much.
However, Venture Kamloops and Community Futures got back to me within a few days and the numbers were impressive. Despite two requests, Lincoln Smith, Executive Director at Kamloops Innovation did not respond and so without hard numbers to compare, I will have to leave them out of this piece.