Canada/Granby reinvents economic development with full-scale industrial park

Granby's industrial park now has just one vacant lot. A sign of effervescent economic development, this lack of space is forcing the municipality to reinvent itself to keep pace.

There's nothing surprising about this lack of space," explained Mayor Julie Bourdon in an interview on the program Vivement le retour. The municipality has been preparing for this for years.

As soon as she took office in 2021, the mayor didn't want to enlarge the park to preserve the environment.

[At the municipal council], we decided not to develop certain lands that had a lot of wetlands and natural environments that were supposed to become an extension of the industrial park.

A quote from Julie Bourdon, Mayor of Granby

The municipality and the parapublic organization responsible for the industrial park, Granby Industriel, are trying to densify the lots.

We looked into the possibility of intensifying certain industrial lots," asked the mayor.

Enhancing existing businesses

To develop the economy without taking up park space, the city and Granby Industriel have set up the Carrefour Industriel.

The aim is to develop businesses that complement the manufacturing industries already present in the park. These new businesses do not require additional space.

We're going to look for [emerging companies] that set up here, then give our industrial manufacturers a hand, to be more efficient, for example.

A quote from Julie Bourdon, Mayor of Granby

Granby benefits from a variety of industries that facilitate this cooperation," said the mayor.

Granby's attractiveness

To achieve this near-saturation of its industrial park, Granby benefits from an unrivalled geographical location.

We're barely an hour from Montreal, not far from Sherbrooke, and very close to the United States. [...] We also have an airport in Bromont," explained the mayor.

There was a time when our land wasn't too expensive, so that allowed a lot of development. [...] I'm talking about 5, 6 and 7 years ago," she added.

Source: /ici.radio-canada.ca/