Town of Cochrane Strategic Plan – Final Report October 2014
Level of Support for the Vision & Mission: The creation of a brick making factory would support
the community’s vision and mission of building a sustainable economy that supports a culturally
diverse and vibrant northern way of life, while providing residents with exemplary municipal
services through positive leadership, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. The introduction of
a new and stable industry to the area would contribute to a more sustainable economy as it would
help to build economic diversity, as well as the local population via job creation. Attracting
newcomers to the community for employment could contribute to the cultural diversity of the area
while also having a positive impact on local businesses and municipal services via living costs and
taxation.
Competitive Advantage: This project would leverage the Town’s TransCanada Highway location,
as well as easy access to rail freight via the Ontario Northland and connecting rail freight services
in Hearst and North Bay. The community is situated in Ontario’s Clay Belt, making clay a plentiful
natural resource in the area. This advantage of proximity to the TransCanada Highway and local
rail freight services, natural clay resources, along with the potential heat source of local
manufacturing plant by-products would give the community a strong competitive advantage.
Job Creation
The creation of a clay brick manufacturing plant would also support job creation in a number of
areas: labour and trade workers, administrative staff, Marketing and Public Relations, as well as
various groups during the construction phase such as construction contractors, engineers and
surveyors. The increase in employment and resources needed would also help boost other
businesses connected to the promotion, construction, and operation of the factory. These
businesses could include rail, transport, suppliers, contractors, and neighbouring manufacturing
plants producing by-products used as a heat source. The job creation could also attract
newcomers to the area which would have a positive impact on the overall economy through an
increase in retail, housing, and municipal taxes.
Economic Diversification & Capacity
This project could also contribute to building a more diversified economy with a wide range of
profitable sectors both directly and indirectly as a result of job creation and the advantages to
other industry sectors that are connected to the business. As clay brick is considered a principal
building material, the clay brick making industry remains fairly stable, thus the potential for longterm development and sustainability could positively impact the community by attracting new
industries that contribute to operation of the brick making factory, along with contributing to
greater export capacity and expanding existing services and/or product lines in local businesses.
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