Kanata North seeing major economic gains, but transit continues to be an issue

A new report shows Kanata North's economic impact has increased 66 per cent over the last three years, and the local business association is looking into ways to keep that wave rolling.

Director of Operations with the Kanata North Business Association Veronica Farmer told 1310 NEWS' Ottawa Today with Mark Sutcliffe, a lack of transit and parking options in the area is one of the main challenges it's facing in continuing to grow and attract world-class talent to its organizations.

She said conversations continue with officials at all levels of government.

“We have now, the data to indicate that this economic impact is quite credible and quite powerful, and we need help,” explained Farmer. “We are adding to the public purse and we need the government to understand that we need some of that back in order to assist in our infrastructure, and that in turn will continue to assist in continuing to solve some of our challenges.”

Listen to the full conversation with Director of Operations with the Kanata North Business Association Veronica Farmer:

The report showed $13-billion in economic created in Kanata North over the last few years, and Farmer said diversity in Canada's largest tech park is the main reason for that figure.

The KNBA director said telecom is still the anchor of the park, but sub-sectors like clean-tech, cloud services and application companies continue to see big growth.

In addition to working with government officials, the business association is looking to draw more high-calibre talent to the area through the University of Ottawa. The school will be opening a campus in Kanata North in the new year.