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| Last updated at 9:44 AM on 31/10/07 |
Catching the eye of corporate Canada 
In the information economy, a business doesn't necessarily have to be across the street from its clients.
It's not so tough living in Canada's second most business-friendly city. But the 32,000 residents of Charlottetown can be forgiven if they hadn't realized that their hometown was offering corporate Canada so much of what it needs.
The admittedly surprising score came to light in the September issue of Canadian Business magazine. Editors came up with a formula to try to quantify the complex ingredients that go into bringing corporate residents to a community.
When the number crunching was done, the capital was behind Sherbrooke, Quebec in a list of 40 Canadian cities. The capital had the same impressive second-place standing in 2005.
The rankings come down to numbers. Consultants calculated that it would cost just under $30 million to run a 350-person head office in the Island capital for a year. The same operation would have cost $32 million annually in Montreal last year, $34 million in Toronto, $35 million in Vancouver.
Cost of living comes cheap here, too. All in all, the magazine figures that $69 spent in Charlottetown will get you a quality of life comparable to $100 spent in Toronto.
Other numbers are ticking along in good directions.
The capital's unemployment rate dropped 20 per cent last year and its building permits grew 36 per cent in the same period.
Charlottetown offers a highly educated workforce, but one in which people still show a strong tendency to stick with their employers.
Housing remains cheap here. The downtown is very accessible to pedestrians. Our inner city looks like a picture book on historic architecture and it's difficult to drive 20 minutes from City Hall without ending up at a beach, a golf course or both.
Maybe that sounds a little boosterish.
It may be that the more eloquent argument for the Island capital can be made by companies like CGI, Ceridian and AIM Trimark, which have opted to set up shop here and have brought this city new vitality in financial services and information technology.
In the information economy, a business doesn't necessarily have to be across the street from its clients and corporate departments don't have to share real estate with their head office.
Detractors may be happy to point out that Kent Street and Queen Street are a far cry from resembling the glass tower landscapes of Bay Street and Yonge Street. But those shining canyons are the archetypes of a corporate model that held sway in the '50s, '60s and '70s.
The computer-era corporate model means information dealers can locate where they want. It's no surprise that many would be intrigued by the prospect of new offices with low costs and a view of the Hillsborough River.
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31/10/07
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