New year should be a good one for Prince Edward County

Predictions for 2016 were made at Rotary Tuesday, by Craig Desjardins, (left), Caroline Granger and Larry Ritchie, right, shown here with Rotary President Rob Leek.

Predictions are that the new year should be a good one in Prince Edward County.

The Rotary Club of Picton welcomed three prognoticators to Tuesday’s meeting to speculate on the County’s prospects for 2016.

Short presentations were made by Craig Desjardins, executive director of the Prince Edward Lennox & Addington Community Futures Development Corporation, Caroline Granger, vineyard owner and winemaker and Larry Ritchie, director with the Chamber of Tourism and Commerce.

“The glass is half full,” said Desjardins. “But we face many challenges.”

Desjardins, who holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and a MBA from Queen’s University, explained how the price of oil will continue to drive economic futures for the next year. He also noted the high American dollar continues to impact purchases and at 38 per cent, impedes investments – both internal and direct foreign.

“The good side to the low Canadian dollar is a possible increase in US tourism here and the hopeful belief that our manufacturing sector will drive employment and growth, but I’m not terribly optimistic about that.”

He also touched on how economic problems in China result in dire consequences for Canadian economies. Terrorism, not so much for its danger, but its uncertainty, he said also tends to cause investors to keep their money in their wallets.

He is hopeful to hear good news from a new federal government focused on growth, prosperity and infrastructure investment. He he challenge will be in how it distributes funding to almost 3,700 municipalities in the nation who are all facing monumental tasks in rebuilding decaying infrastructure.

“Demand for infrastructure funding will outstrip supply, so much-needed projects may not get done,” he said.

For Prince Edward County, he predicts relatively stagnant growth. Both the County and the PELA CFDC will be working on overcoming issues of inflation, aging population, migration of youth and seek to change government’s balance of power focus from urban to rural needs. However, he noted that in the coming year it will continue to be difficult to attract business investment to the region.

Caroline Granger said the glass is more than half full, in regard to the business of agriculture and specifically vineyards, but “I’m afraid about spilling it before we get to drink it”.

Granger said the focus of 2016 should be to support and nurture what has been started in the County.

“Our challenge is not missing the potential of opportunity here,” she said. “This small place has unique opportunity to grow and flourish.”

Noting weather doesn’t tend to listen to magazines, if the almanac is correct, she believes her industry could be on the edge of a banner year in 2016.

“We always like to think the year will be better than the one before, but my strongest thoughts forecasting big plans is that change is still coming. I have not seen retail growth like last year since 2004.”

The Chamber’s Larry Ritchie agrees, reporting upward growth in the accommodation industry in the County – but it wasn’t enough for John Travolta.

Part of the Chamber’s role, he noted, was to field questions and lead people in the right direction.

“We had a call from a film company wanting to make a movie at Camp Picton. It was John Travolta and it was going to be an ad for a watch. There were 300 people and a crew and they had no place to stay. Had to turn it down. I’m a promoter of events. It’s a big issue – where to stay.”

However, Ritchie said reports to the Chamber were that real estate and accommodations providers had a great year with few vacancies in 2015 as the County continues to be a greater centre of influence in the province as a destination.

“What we need are more overnight accommodations – not just two-three day minimums. The Royal Hotel adding 18 rooms is great but not enough. I don’t think that’s going to do it.”

He also recommended addressing attitudes to needs of an aging population, making the County more attractive and addressing fixed incomes.

He also expressed high hopes for success with the new Harbour Committee to take advantage of desires to increase use of enjoyment of the waters surrounding the County and take advantage of the County’s history.

We can smell, taste and breath opportunity here, said Ritchie. “Glass half full? Sure it is. We are a real diamond in the rough and our opportunity is to capitalize on this… with a more like-minded community, more consumer service and positive attitude. It would involve getting together. We have lots of sparks. We have to get all the sparks together and we could ignite a fire.”