Courtesy of the City of Quesnel:
Editor's Note -- this week's Quesnel City Council column is written by Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson. He can be reached via email here
With the provincial election effectively over, the BC Government will be re-focusing its efforts on controlling the spread of the pandemic and assisting individuals, communities, and businesses to weather the socio-economic impacts of this ongoing public health emergency. But, we don’t need to be dependent on the Province to come to our aid, there’s a lot we can do collectively to take care of our own.
During the election period, the City of Quesnel and the Cariboo Regional District prepared grant applications to submit to the Community Economic Infrastructure Recovery Program, as did a number of our local First Nations’ governments and not for profit agencies. These COVID-related grant applications are due at the end of this month and a commitment has been made by the Province to vet the applications and commit the funds to the approved projects before the end of their fiscal year.
If we’re successful in obtaining these COVID-related grants we’ll be able to advance a number of our strategic initiatives and create both short and long term employment in Quesnel and our fringe areas. However, in addition to this hoped-for provincial support, we’ll continue to make strategic investments in our community with your tax dollars; proactively implementing our transition strategy, which predates this pandemic.
More COVID-related supports are also being made available for businesses from both the Provincial and Federal governments. City staff will continue to work with our business organizations and Community Futures to ensure that all our local businesses are aware of these supports and able to access them as needed. However, the best, most consistent support we can all provide to our businesses is to shop local, especially as we enter what is traditionally one of the highest consumer spending periods of the year.
Our own consumer spending is one of the most powerful socio-economic tools we have to ensure we have a robust and diverse local economy that supports as many local jobs as possible. If our local stores don’t have what you’re looking for, ask, or choose alternate/substitute products that they can get for you. Every dollar we spend in our own community is a contribution towards our community’s long-term sustainability and resiliency.
Our own dollars are also critically important when it comes to supporting families and individuals in need in our community too. While we’ll continue to ensure that our not-for-profit support agencies are kept informed of any COVID-related grants and programs, local donations will continue to be the mainstay for most of these organizations.
Many social service support organizations are in need of warm winter clothing for the individuals and families they serve. Each of these organizations have specific needs and ways they collect and distribute clothing, please view the list for more information on how to get new and used clothing to these organizations in the most effective way.
Direct cash donations are critically important for most of our local not for profit groups, as cash gives them the most flexibility to address the needs of their clients. Rather than donating to global or national organizations, please consider becoming a consistent supporter of one of our local organizations – you’ll be directly helping people in your community to live more sustainable and resilient lives.
We have the ability to shape our own future and ensure our community and local households and businesses remain resilient during this challenging time simply by making sure as many of our dollars as possible remain in our local economy.
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