Plea To Council Not To Cut DDC Funding

Tourism! The future of Dryden.
That’s the opinion of the Chair of the Shaw Walleye Masters amid talk of possible cuts across the board.
The City is trying to eliminate a $1-million dollar deficit.
Joe Barron stresses tourism is the only area we can start building on right now.
Barron says the City is a prime destination for visitors and notes we aren’t seeing a lot of new industry coming to town.
He adds the Dryden Development Corporation puts a lot of heart and effort into attracting events and activities to the community.
Barron says the City has ignored tourism opportunities and is upset that there are no plans to hire a new Economic Development Manager.
He also believes Council doesn’t know the full scope of what the DDC does and stresses they should be asking the organization what can be done to make tourism bigger and better.
A DDC report shows the Shaw Walleye Masters, Little Bands and Northern Bands hockey tournaments, figure skating and the Atom hockey tournament will have a roughly $2-million economic impact this year.
The DDC says it continues to pursue tourism opportunities and a bid has been submitted to host the 2015-2016 Ontario Special Olympics and the Senior Games.
Another area talked about as of late is the establishment of a Casino.
Dryden Council hasn’t publicly endorsed Wabigoon Lake First Nations’ bid.