Now is the time for optimism.
On June 12 a local consortium that includes Mayor Glenn Hagel is travelling to China on a fact-finding mission, touring Chinese manufacturing centres and speaking with government officials in the spirit of building business relationships and determining if Queen's Tower Developments (QTD) and Moose Jaw could benefit from a Chinese wholesale distribution centre in the local area.
Granted, as the mayor stated during a press conference last week, there are still many questions that need answering before the city and foreign company could consider locating a North American hub for Chinese goods in the Friendly City, but even the possibility of such a grand endeavour is certainly something local residents should look upon with pride and enthusiasm.
The fact QTP approached the city with an interest in the local area and the fact that interest is viable enough to prompt South Central Enterprise Region to pay for the upcoming trip shows there is a real potential for an international-scale economic enterprise (bringing jobs and money) in the local area.
More so, QTD's interest in Moose Jaw represents an outside appreciation for the business climate locally. And there's more.
Last week's travel announcement came shortly after another good news story — the planned reopening of the former Moose Jaw Pork Packers after the city sold a previously shutdown plant to Donald's Fine Foods/Britco Pork Inc. (which intends to reopen the facility by next year).
In 2009, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business ranked Moose Jaw fourth for the best communities (with a population over 20,000) within which to operate a small business.
With the news over the past couple of weeks, it appears Moose Jaw might be a pretty good place to do big business as well.
