CITY COUNCIL EXAMINES HOW NPC SPENT $2,000,000
Don't put NPC 'on the spot' just lob a couple of softballs.
This Is How $2 Million Gets Spent — And Council Just Nods?
Nanaimo’s latest economic-development experiment did not begin yesterday. The current model grew out of the City’s economic development rethink, which was completed at the end of 2020. Council then approved the Nanaimo Prosperity Corporation framework in 2021, formally moved to establish NPC in January 2022, and allocated $643,750 that year to get it going. The City’s 2026 business plan now shows $665,000 a year for NPC. That puts the public commitment well past $2 million.
So what did taxpayers get at council this week for that kind of money and runway?
A 15-minute Zoom presentation.
Not a hard accounting of visible wins. Not a plain list of attributable results. Not a serious grilling on what Nanaimo has tangibly received. A 15-minute Zoom built around coordination, alignment, systems, shared measurement, and behavior change. In fact, Colin Stansfield said the “most important shift isn’t really the outputs,” but the behavior change behind the Nanaimo Accord. He described the Accord as “not a new program, but rather a shared way of working.”
That is revealing. It tells you the core story being sold is not, “Here are the jobs, investments, and business wins we delivered.” It is, “Here is how institutions are learning to work together differently.” That may have some value. But it is not the same thing as a results story, and taxpayers are entitled to know the difference.
To be fair, there were a few concrete pieces in the presentation. Stansfield said NPC completed Nanaimo’s first foreign direct investment readiness strategy with CanExport support, has identified priority sectors, and now has an implementation roadmap. He also said Nanaimo needs more industrial land and that a more formal business retention and expansion update should be ready by the end of the calendar year. Those are at least tangible pieces of work.
But then came council’s scrutiny, or lack of it.
Councillor Armstrong asked two soft questions — one about industrial land, one about timing for the business retention and expansion work. Councillor Thorpe said he was “quite concerned” that business confidence is fragile and that conditions for confidence, investment, and growth are not currently in place, but immediately added that he did not want to put Stansfield “on the spot right now.” Then the meeting ended with, “I’m not seeing any further questions.”
If this is how Nanaimo reviews an arms-length corporation with more than $2 million in public money tied to it, this was not accountability. It was a courtesy call.
That concern gets sharper when you look at what City Hall is already doing itself. The City’s own 2026 business plan says its in-house economic development function still provides business development services, business retention and expansion support, investment attraction, and promotion of Nanaimo as a destination for business and quality of life. The same plan also shows the City still budgeting $665,000 a year for NPC. So the obvious question writes itself: what unique value is being purchased with the extra layer?
And Nanaimo has reason to be cautious. The City’s own 2016 Core Services Review said the old NEDC had “not clearly established itself as a lead partner” and that its economic-development efforts were hampered by “continuous change at the senior management level.” The report said the City needed clearer expectations, specific targets, and closer monitoring of funded organizations.
That history does not prove NPC will fail. But it absolutely explains why taxpayers no longer clap automatically when they hear another polished sermon on collaboration, resilience, and alignment.
The public has put real money into this. It deserves more than a short Zoom, two softballs, and another invitation to trust the process.
It deserves visible results.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for your input. Your comment will appear once reviewed.