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INVEST in BC 2 0 2 4 43 LEFT OPPOSITE PAGE: KOOTENAY ROCKIES TOURISM/MITCH WINTON; FROM TOP CLOCKWISE: DESTINATION BC/DARRYL PALMER; DESTINATION BC/KARI MEDIG; METALTECH ALLEY REGIONAL POPULATION (2023) 173,059 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (MAY 2024) 5.9% TOP EMPLOYERS BY INDUSTRY (2023): Health care & social assistance 16.3% Retail trade 11.8% Educational services 8.9% FORECAST EMPLOYMENT GROWTH, 2023-33 4,100 BUILDING PERMIT VALUES (2023) $548.7 MILLION HOUSING STARTS (2023) 73 (CRANBROOK ONLY) VALUE OF MAJOR PROJECTS PLANNED OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Q4 2023) $5.1 BILLION BUSINESS INCORPORATIONS (2023) 809 SOURCES: B.C. L ABOUR MARKET OUTLOOK , STATISTICS CANADA AND B.C. STATS. Cranbrook, Fairmont Hot Springs Resort near Invermere and Blackstone Resort in Fernie. Not to be outdone, the Fernie and Kimberley alpine resorts are also expanding. Cranbrook is the largest city in the region and is getting larger. The city has seen the construction of 900 housing units worth more than $300 million over the past five years. The past year witnessed the announcement of a $157-million long-term care facility to be built here. Cranbrook is also working hand-in-hand with ʔaq̓am Community Enterprises (ACE), part of the Ktunaxa Nation, to develop two large light industrial properties adjacent to the Canadian Rockies International Airport. The developments include the Natanik Renewable Energy Project, which aims to take advantage of Cranbrook's status as the sunniest city in B.C. to generate power from a solar array. PEOPLE COME FIRST Aiming to improve residents' access to primary health care, the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce, based in Invermere, has launched a digital campaign to attract more family doctors to the area. The campaign emphasizes the four-season active lifestyle opportunities available in the Rocky Mountain communities, the top-level health infra- structure including a hospital and two clinics and the well paid jobs currently available for physicians. That's just one of many grassroots efforts at community development in the Kootenay region. Accelerate Kootenays is a unique strategy to build out the electric vehicle charging station network along the region's often remote and mountainous highways. With the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation, the Kootenays also have a comprehensive open-access fibre-optic network. MetalTech Alley is harnessing an existing knowledge base in metallurgy, digital fabrication, industrial recycling, cleantech and the industrial internet of things in the smelting town of Trail and applying it to innovation in the circular economy. In Nelson, the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST) at Selkirk College helps companies and entrepreneurs develop prototypes and bring inventions to market. Since 1995, the Columbia Basin Trust has been investing revenues from power generated on both sides of the Canada-United States border in communities affected by the many hydroelectric dams on the boundary-hopping Columbia River and its tributaries. It's financed everything from high-speed internet to energy efficiency to waste diversion to carbon reduction. • K O O T E N AY GETAWAY-READY: The Wildstone Golf Resort near Cranbrook (left) is undergoing a huge expansion; Accelerate Kootenays is helping make the Kootenays' mountain passes accessible to EVs (below) MOUNTAIN HIGH: Cranbrook (opposite page) is the Kootenays' largest city and transportation hub; MetalTech Alley in Trail is developing new skills and marketable materials (above) Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association in special partnership with BCBusiness.

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