The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
There is yet another indication Sudbury’s economy will grow in the coming year. The Conference Board of Canada is predicting the Nickel City’s gross domestic product will increase 2% in 2012 because of what it calls “moderate growth” in the mining and construction sectors.
That forecast is included in the board’s Metropolitan Outlook- Winter 2012, which was released this week. The report offers an annual analysis of 27 Canadian census metropolitan areas.
Jean-Charles Cachon, an economist and professor of strategy in Laurentian University’s Faculty of Management, said GDP growth of 2% is significant, given the ups and downs Sudbury has experienced over the years. Add 2% to the value of “everything that’s being produced, everything that’s being done” in Sudbury, said Cachon.
“It’s the total of everything that goes on in the city, so it can include salaries, it can include output, it can include sales from all companies and so on.”
Apply that 2% to, say, the retail sector, which is an important part of Sudbury’s economy. While he doesn’t know its exact value, Cachon estimates it could be more than $2 billion.
If the 5,000 Sudburians who work directly in mining and the 12,000 or 14,000 in the mining supply and service industry get a 2% increase in wages, that will trickle down to the rest of the population, as well.
For the last decade, the economies of Canada and the United States have grown by an average 2.5%, said Cachon, so Sudbury’s 2% would be right on track.
He also estimates the Conference Board of Canada’s 2% prediction is on the conservative side. Sudbury’s economy will do better than that, he said.
Vale and Xstrata Nickel plan to spend millions in improvements in the next few years, and about 80% of that will stay in Sudbury, said Cachon.
That activity will serve as a big driver of growth in many sectors.
For instance, said Cachon, “there are armies of (engineering) consultants” setting up in Sudbury.
Saskatoon is forecast to lead the country in economic growth in 2012, according to the Conference Board.
The forecast of 4% GDP growth predicted in the report is down from the estimated 4.5% forecast last year.
The board predicts the GDPs of Calgary, Edmonton and Regina will increase by 3.6, 3.4 and 2.9% respectively.