Fruitful mission
Summerside mayor reflects on Toronto speaking tour
Summerside Mayor Bill Martin considers his recent speaking tour of Greater Toronto Area Rotary Clubs a success.
Martin flew to Toronto earlier rented a car and spent four days pitching Summerside as a good place to do business to the members of eight Rotary Clubs. The mayor is himself a member of the Rotary Club of Summerside.
“From the get-go my main focus has been economic de- velopment,” Martin explained.
“So essentially my reason for doing this was to identify an audience that would have an interest in at least considering expanding (to Summerside).”
Martin said the trip cost $2,500 and led to about 10 follow up meetings with various business people and Rotary leaders. this month,
“From the get-go my main focus has been economic development. So essentially my reason for doing this was to identify an audience that would have an interest in at least considering expanding (to Summerside).” Summerside Mayor Bill Martin
The most exciting development, said Martin, was an invitation for Summerside to enter a booth into the International Rotary Convention in Toronto in next year, which is expected to attract 30,000 delegates from more than 100 countries.
That’s a great opportunity, said Martin, and things have already been put into motion to make it happen.
In terms of the kinds of questions his audiences had for him, he added, most were practical business concerns like workforce availability, taxes and transportation between Toronto and P.E.I.
Martin said he will be following up with the various contacts he made during this initiative.