Trade trip good for city: mayor

By Bob Bruton, Barrie Examiner December 7, 2012 

The return on a China trip will come eventually, if not immediately, says Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman.

“It only takes one Barrie company expanding, or one investment into a Barrie company or building by a Chinese group, to pay for the trade mission a hundred times over,” he said. “We got a broader sense of what it takes to build business ties to China and what the barriers and opportunities are.

“To say this was eye-opening would be an understatement. There are 50 people in China for every Canadian, so the potential market is simply huge. But yes, it will take months or years for these opportunities to evolve.”

Lehman was one of 71 Canadian delegates from six cities — Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Clarington, Oakville and Barrie — and approximately 40 businesses, including four from Barrie, who made the 12-day trip from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3.

Organized by the Greater Toronto Area Chinese Business Association (GTACBA), the trade mission went to Shanghai, Beijing, Xuzhou, Taizhou and Hong Kong.

Lehman says most cities have been doing this for some time. Vaughan, for example, has sent four trade missions to China in the past five years. Markham has been doing this for about 10 years and now has several large companies and hundreds if not thousands of jobs through Chinese investment, he said.

Lehman says this trip made sense for Barrie because teaming up with other cities and the GTACBA gave this city opportunities it would never have had alone.

“The intent was to, one, introduce Barrie to potential investors, two, identify opportunities and form relationships for Barrie companies to sell products and services into China,” Lehman said.

Coun. John Brassard, chairman of the economic development and transportation committee, and the city’s director of economic development, Hany Kirolos, accompanied Lehman.

The mayor says they presented Barrie to roughly 1,000 business and government officials in the five Chinese cities and made dozens, if not hundreds, of contacts. This included two large-scale business events in Shanghai and Beijing, and a smaller formal meeting in Xuzhou, he said.

“In Beijing, we met with the board of directors and signed a letter of intent with a Chinese company called ZDG to pursue two investments in Barrie,” he said. “First, they are interested in building an office building in Barrie, second, they are interested in investing in green energy and recycling technology companies.

“They actually flew in their shareholders to meet with us from around China and we anticipate them coming to Barrie in the next few months.”

Some of the Barrie companies on the trip — TNR Industrial Doors, Advanced Motion & Controls, ISM Architects and Squarefoot.ca — met with potential distribution partners, companies or individuals to help them start selling their products in China.

The Barrie contingent also met with organizations able to help Barrie companies enter the Asian market.

“Two organizations in Hong Kong are particular opportunities,” Lehman said. “Invest Hong Kong, which provides inbound investment support, and HK Cyberport, which provides everything from low-cost office space to technology support and marketing support. I plan to talk with some Barrie companies that are interested in Asia about these opportunities.”

The city’s trade mission met with senior officials from Barrie’s sister city, Taizhou, and re-established the ties that were built by former mayor Janice Laking.

The estimated cost to send Brassard, Kirolos and Lehman on the China trade mission was $7,500 each, or $22,500 total.

Officials from four Barrie businesses went, and paid their own way.

Cathy Buckingham is with TNR Industrial Doors, a privately owned Barrie company which crafts high-performance, high-speed, high-impact doors for the commercial and industrial markets.

Ian Malcolm is with ISM Architects, a developmental architectural firm, with staff fully fluent in both English and Mandarin, and certified in leadership in energy and environmental design.

Linda Loftus is with Squarefoot.ca, a facilitation service for private real-estate investment; it can connect international buyers and sellers with the appropriate level of service.

Mark Schick is with Advanced Motion & Controls, an industrial distributor of factory control parts and accessories.