“Carpool Almaguin” is a new project for the Women’s Own Resource Center in which we have partnered with Industry Canada and the Village of South River.  It is aimed at providing an easily accessible, affordable, transportation system for the residents of the District of East Parry Sound.  The lack of public transportation and the cost of personal transportation have long been noted as one of the greatest barriers to employment in our area.  Carpool Almaguin will present a viable, low cost solution by building on existing drivers and their daily traffic patterns, allowing people and businesses greater opportunities at accessing employment and employees. Carpool Almaguin will be primarily based online but will also be available through a local call center for those in our area that do not have access to the internet.  To sign up, or find out more information please go to www.carpoolalmaguin.com and follow the links to access. 

Parry Sound Power together with Ontario Power Authority currently has a Power Savings Blitz program that they are offering to small commercial businesses that qualify.  Qualifying businesses will receive an electricity usage assessment plus a recommended list of upgrades that will help them find ways of reducing their electricity use which will ultimately save on their energy bill.  Licensed electricians will install up to $1,000.00 of the recommended upgrades as well as any additional items they may decide to purchase additional energy efficient products in order to receive the $1,000.00 of free upgrades. Small business customers that are interested in saving both energy and money should contact Parry Sound Power for more information on this program or call 1-877-662-5489 to request a free energy assessment by a participating contractor.

REDAC would like to thank CMHC representative Adrienne Keyzer, and her panel of experts for making this event a success.

Tired of living in your parents basement? Throwing rent out the window?

Did you know?
1) A first time home buyer may not have to pay land transfer tax on their first home (savings of up to $2000)
2) You may qualify for a forgivable loan of up to 10% of the cost of your new home from the Provincial Government. (On a $250,000 home that is saving of up to $25,000!!!!)

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Survey Map
(image/png - 1.84MB)

After an astounding amount of surveys the West Parry Sound Geography Network has graciously created a map for us of all of the results.  The Infastructure subcommittee of REDAC would like to thank everyone for their input and encourage you to continue to announce this survey within your cottage associations and to your neighbours.  We now have over 450 responses and have more coming in each day!  This map and a summary of the survey results have been sent to Bell, Rogers, Vianet, and Zeuter.  Also, the subcommittee has been in contact with BlueSkyNet to assist in obtaining funding for the completion of some of these gap areas.

You may view the latest version of this map by clicking on the file to the left and downloading it to your computer.

Canada's Economic Action Plan included $225 million to extend broadband to those households that currently do not have access.

REDAC would like to congratulate our logo contest winner Cameron Stevens from Acton Ontario.  Thank you too all those who submitted a logo.

One of the Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee’s (REDAC) 2008/2009 initiatives is to facilitate the provision of adequate and reliable high speed internet services to the Parry Sound Area Development Community. The first step in this process is locating service gaps and determining the level of service demand within those gaps.

A ‘Hispeed' Internet Survey has been created to help gather data which will lend itself to meeting these informational needs. To take this survey,

        Please click www.cityfree.ca/hispeed.

Located two hours from the GTA and one hour north of Barrie is a 1,000 acre commercial industrial park that is an ideal location for a new business start up, expansion or business re-location.

The park has a state of the art water plant and a waste water system. The CN/CP rail corridor abuts the west side of the park. Further, the park fronts on Highway #69 which will be four lanes by 2010 with a new interchange constructed into the park. Hydro service is 3 phase 12kv and 3 phase 44kv.

The park has not been fully sub-divided allowing flexibility to off lots in sizes ranging from 2 acres up to 100 acres in size. Prices will range from $1,000 to $10,000 per acre.

Under the guidance of the Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee (REDAC), a Market Study and Gap Analysis for the Parry Sound Area Development Community has been completed. The report defines the area economic and business context, in order to identify industry gaps and market opportunities that have the capability to generate economic activity and growth.

The Parry Sound Area Culture and Recreation Master Plan, produced by dmA Planning and Management Services, has been received by the Municipality of McDougall, Town of Parry Sound, and Seguin Township Councils. The study is now available to the public.