With the economy in Canada having as tough a time as it has been in recent years, diversifying what we do to add more revenue streams can be an important way to help boost it back up again. Our Economic Development Coordinator Dwight 'Fitz' Bramble, along with Mayor Roy Ludwig, a local business representative, and Lindsay Quick from the Ministry of Trade and Export, all traveled to the Netherlands to try and bring foreign investors into the city of Estevan.

"We had pre-scheduled meetings with companies that had already expressed an interest in coming to Canada and setting up shop so to speak," said Dwight Bramble. "We met with the Embassy of Canada to the Netherlands and that was a very very good meeting. We have established a partnership where we will continue working with them to find investment opportunities between Dutch companies and coming to Canada and Estevan in particular."

The meetings with the embassy and other large companies were a part of the Invest Canada Community Initiative that provides small communities with the funding to make these trips and grow those relationships. Estevan was the recipient of $30,000 from the program as a result and used it for the three-day trip.

While in the coastal European country, the group met with a number of businesses in the agri-value and renewable energy production. One thing that really impressed Bramble while out east was the technology they had in the food processing area.

"We also met with a University in Holland specifically dedicated to research in agriculture and agri-value called Wageningen University. We had a very good meeting with them, they have some very cool technology going on and partners. Hopefully, that would be something that will materialize also. We were particularly interested in having them partner with our local Southeast College to provide training in the different technologies."

Another thing that caught the attention of the Economic Development Coordinator was the greenhouse and incubation technology in the Netherlands. During their meetings in the World Horti Centre, one of the premier greenhouse/horticulture centres in the world, they met with a number of companies that produce tomato seeds for greenhouse producers, another business that helps share these technologies in cities the size of Estevan around the rest of the Netherlands, and a number of other companies.

With Estevan being the city in Canada that receives more sunlight than anywhere else in the country, Bramble believes that some of the greenhouse technologies would fit well amongst the power generation in the southeast.

"I try to draw on all the possible resources and everybody at city hall, people who work in the city, people who live in the city, I try to reach out to them and get their support and advice, and see how we can work together to take Estevan forward."

Since these were only the first meetings, there have not been any commitments from Dutch companies to make their way out to Estevan yet, which was expected in the first go around, but Bramble and the others on the trip are excited to see what this means for the future. Bramble also stated that he wants to get some of the companies that they spoke with out to our city before the end of the year to continue growing the relationships into what could become partnerships.