How the Region of Waterloo plans to recover economically from pandemic

A guide map for Waterloo region's economic recoverywas released at acommittee meeting on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of continued collaboration with industry and maintaining the region's autonomy in economic development ideas.

The update laid out the region's goals in economic and business recovery from the pandemic, namely minimizing the loss of local businesses and jobs.

"It's a starting point as the economy starts to open up slowly," said Matthew Chandy, manager of economic development for the Region of Waterloo. "We realize there's a lot of impacts from the COVID pandemic."

The report also said the goal is for the region to take stock of possibility opportunities and become a "global leader in post-pandemic transformation."

"How do we build a bit of a framework in partnership with our industries and businesses?" said Chandy. "How do we work all together to get back to a place that we were?"

From crisis to recovery

A set of guiding principles were presented in the framework, including that the region:

• Considers short, medium and long-term economic growth and opportunities to establish new industries.

• Continues to collaborate with industry partners.

• Advocates for support from provincial and federal governments.

• Continues to support arts, culture and not-for-profit agencies.

• Retains its own autonomy in leading economic development strategies and actions.

The update also points out that the region is moving from a crisis-structured framework to a recovery framework focused on adaptation and development.

Chandy said much more work needs to be done before the region passes an economic recovery plan.

At Wednesday's regional council meeting a motion was passed to create an ad hoc "Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Committee" to review the region's economy strategy.