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Burnaby—so much so that the Burnaby
Board of Trade created a new initiative to
help address the challenge. "We recently
launched a really comprehensive and in
many respects groundbreaking program
called BurnabyWorks," explains the
Board of Trade's Holden. The program
includes working with K-12 students, post-
secondary institutions and the public,
private and nonprofit sectors to facilitate
better connections between employers
and job seekers.
Despite the challenges, HollyNorth's
Kaerne is encouraged by the efforts
being made by the Board of Trade as well
as by the city's overall business-friendly
attitude: "They really look after small
business and so does the City of Burn-
aby—they've been really good to work
with over the years." For the film industry
more specifically, Kaerne has little con-
cern regarding its future: "I fully expect
that within six months we'll be back up to
the levels before the strike and with lots
of good prospects on the horizon."
Looking ahead, Holden is similarly
optimistic, if somewhat pragmatic. "I
think there will be hiccups along the way
with the economy, but I think overall
Burnaby is well positioned to have a very
positive and strong economic future," he
says, adding: "Burnaby truly is one of the
most diverse communities anywhere in
the country—in some schools over 100
languages are being spoken—and so I
think with that diversity comes a lot of
opportunities."
GIVE ME A SIGN
HollyNorth president and
CEO Mike Kaerne is
calling action after the
Hollywood strikes
derailed his business
