Annual General Meeting celebrates Cochrane's enterprises

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The Cochrane Board of Trade has been part of the Cochrane fabric, before Cochrane was incorporated as a town, making it the oldest established organization in the community.

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Started in 1909, the Board has been instrumental in a number of projects throughout its history. Over the years, it has been like many organizations – years of high membership and numerous projects to years of struggle. However, recently, the Board is rebounding and are looking forward to the future.

Over the last few years, even with the pandemic, the Board has begun to rebuild and is now a strong voice for the businesses in the community. Currently the president is Frank Louvelle, the vice-president is Raymond Gagne, and the treasurer is Maurice Bruneau.

In his presidential address Frank Louvelle talked to the sold out crowd “it is really exciting being here tonight celebrated our 112th Board of Trade AGM.”
He noted that because of the pandemic, the last few years have been a challenge “but we are looking forward to a better future. It is a time of renewed optimism and rejuvenation for the Board of Trade and our community. With the rich natural resources that we have in the area we look forward to tremendous growth in the coming years.”

Louvelle noted that the Board of Trade is dedicated to the economic prosperity of the community and supporting businesses. They have forged partnerships with a number of large corporations to bring projects to town. He also said that they were looking at additional benefits for community business members.

Louvelle added that one project they are currently participating in is bridging the gap between students/employees. Cochrane is the pilot project for Kap Data’s PATH program who’s goal it is to match these two groups together by using traits that would work for both.

“So where do we go from here,” asked Louvelle. He noted that the Board would continue its stride to help community businesses though programs, information sessions. He pledged that the board will work with other groups and organizations to pool resources to be more productive.

He went on to say that there would be challenges in the next few years but there was also the great potential for growth.

“If we work together, we can achieve anything,” he commented positively “We will make Cochrane a better place.”

Available to provide his mayor’s address was Mayor Peter Politis “Every now and then there are generational opportunities that communities are faced with and I really do think that the stars are aligned to provide one of those generational opportunities. There are a number of things that are coming together that are really providing this community and the entire region the opportunity to create growth.”

He spoke of the employment challenges that will be forthcoming with the retirement of the aging workforce and the fallout of the pandemic.

“That is a significant growth opportunity on its own,” he comment. But, he also mentioned the new mining operations that will be requiring a large workforce.
He explained that housing and medical care challenges will have to be met to keep up with the growth.

He said these are significant in “driving people this way. You are talking the potential of hundreds of homes that could be potentially built. We don’t know how it will turn out but we do know that there is windows of opportunity opening up and we want to jump in before that window closes. Our council is
completely focused on strategically planning our way through that for building relationships with all the ministries involved with that. We are building new relationships with the province. We are working very hard with all the municipalities hand in hand recognizing that as a collective we are stronger than we would be as individuals. I am extremely excited by what I am seeing right across the region. We are sitting on the cusp of great opportunities for this community.”

Guest speakers at the annual event were: Jasmine Chenier, business advisor of Link North out of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation office and Marc Selby the CEO of Canada Nickel.

Chenier introduced herself by saying that the energy in the room “is amazing. I should pack my bags and come to Cochrane – it seems the place to be right now!”
She told those in attendance that her organization is to support entrepreneurs and businesses throughout all stages of innovation.

“We offer business advisory services to assist clients with developing and facilitating access to any suitable resources in the region and province,” she said.

She added that they provide online and in-person workshops and events to support businesses in the resource and industrial based sectors, agricultural, technologies among others.

Marc Selby of Canada Nickel was very positive in his delivery when he said “It is great to be back in Cochrane.” He noted that he had had the chance to speak with members of the business community about the opportunities surrounding the development on Hwy 655 and their support.

“It is amazing that this board has been meeting for 112 years and hopefully, with what we want to do with this mine, someone from the Canada Nickel team 112 year from now will be here talking about the 100 years plus of working together,” he commented.

“We just got started in 2019. This was a new mining discovery,” He noted that he had been contacted by two guys who had dug four holes in some property on 655 and realized it could be a very good deposit. “So we formed a company in September 2019. We raised $6 million and as of this afternoon have about $200 million rapidly advancing the project. One of the big selling points for me is what makes a great mining project – that is the communities around the mine. When you can create thousands of jobs, it affects other businesses with a big mining operation nearby. Our foundation was already here and in place by the massive amount of infrastructure with the mining knowledge of these communities.”

He conceded that the area has been primarily gold mining but “In terms of nickel, historically it has been widely used in a number of item.” He said even most of items that contain stainless steel like cutlery has nickel in it.

“But the big new opportunity today,” he commented “is around electric vehicles. Ontario is in a very good position because we are in one of the few places locally where we both mine metals and produce products. Over the next 10 years we will go through a massive transition where we move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. Northeastern Ontario is ideally positioned to be a leading supplier.”

Selby noted that international mining for nickel is not as cost efficient or carbon friendly for North American use. He also told those in attendance that global situations with countries that are not necessarily western friendly also make obtaining these ores difficult to get on a hassle free way.

“The district is a real alternative to those sources of nickel in most parts of the world,” he said.

Selby said that after all the paper work process is done, they hope to be in production by mid -2027. They have also picked up 20 more properties in the area that look promising.

“Right now we are five for five in respect to mineral discoveries,” he noted “The opportunity here is not just one mine and a few hundred jobs, but potentially numerous mines with thousands of jobs. We don’t want to have to ship it half way around the world so the jobs happen to someone else. We are looking at opportunities to process this in the area. We are really looking forward to a sustainable future and a long one.”

Honourees for the 2023 Board of Trade meeting were former long time board member Marc Johnson who served for 15 years on the board and local business Girard Esso who is celebrating their 60th anniversary.

The meal was catered by Bearylicous Catering who has been providing the service to the Board of Trade for about 25 years. After the meeting and the meal, participants had the opportunity to network with the various organizations on hand. Music was provided by Kyler Brouwer and a silent auction was available with various items from local sponsors.