THE ECONOMY & LOCAL JOBS

How we did in 2022 the highlights

✔ InvestSquamish.ca website was launched to attract investment and support business scaling. The website has seen 8.1k users and 11k user sessions since launch (April 2022).

✔ A $700k grant from the Province of B.C. Tourism Dependent Communities program has funded the revitalization of the Squamish Adventure Centre. Construction is underway to improve the visitor experience and economic viability of the building. To be completed in 2023.

✔ A virtual familiarization tour was created offering prospective investors a highly visual and immersive interactive tour of Squamish. The tour highlights Squamish’s value proposition and introduces investors to our location, lifestyle, and key sectors, as well as infrastructure and community assets through video, interactive layered maps and narrative.

✔ The Emerging Sector Roadmap and Action Plan implementation featured:

• The Sea to Sky Outdoor Adventure Recreation Enterprise (SOARE) not-for-profit society was established to support the development of an outdoor recreation business network.

• The Innovation Working Group was initiated to stimulate, coordinate, and respond to Squamish’s diverse innovation needs.

✔ The Guiding Principles for Employment Space Development report was developed with principles, policy recommendations and actions to support decision-making in relation to employment space development for the District. This was a MITACS-funded project with a University of Waterloo graduate student.

Strategic Goals

Generate a net increase of employment lands and space in pace with terrestrial and marine needs by 2022.

Increase the number of local jobs per capita, year over year by 2022.

Increase the concentration of priority target sector firms year over year by 2022.

• An example where employment lands have been increased in pace with needs is within the Loggers East Neighbourhood Plan where approximately 25 acres of new employment lands have been designated between General Industrial and Mixed Use District designations.

• The Marine Access Review (underway) is identifying marine access needs and recommendations for water-dependent employment lands and uses.

✔ Squamish Leaders in Trade and Investment program (previously conceptualized as Squamish Ambassadors’ program) rolled out in February 2023 to provide training and accompanying assets to enable local staff and partners to become allies and advocates in pursuing local investment.

✔ Local jobs per capita:

The size of Squamish’s labour force increased by 14% between 2019 and 2022, however the ratio of local jobs per capita decreased from 0.9:1 to 0.7:1. This drop is attributed to the COVID-19 Pandemic, with local jobs decreasing by 852 in 2020 and 103 in 2021. 2022 saw the beginning of a rebound with a gain of 415 positions.

✔ Priority target sector firms:

Overall, the number of Squamish-based firms grew 14% over the past four years, rising from 3,435 in December of 2019 to reach 3,907 in June of 2022. While Squamish experienced significant growth over this period many of these firms are micro in size (1-4 staff). Squamish’s priority target sector firms grew 11% over this same period and were estimated to represent 29% of all firms in the District of Squamish in 2022.