A New Tool for Educating Elected Officials on Economic Development and the Role of the Economic Developer

Authors

  • Michael Pealow

Abstract

A common complaint of economic development professionals is that their employers – elected officials (municipal councillors, First Nations councillors, and federal/provincial/territorial legislators, in particular) – do not understand the role of the economic development professional, may struggle to understand the value of the work that economic development professionals do, and consequently, may not support the work of the economic development professional. In response to this, a video was created to be used by economic development professionals to educate new councils or to help councils, boards, or committees who are about to engage in strategic economic development planning to have a shared understanding of economic development and their role in the planning and implementation process.

 Keywords: educational content, elected officials, economic development

Author Biography

Michael Pealow

Michael Pealow was exposed to the north, from Alaska to Nunavut, at an early age and fell in love with the north and its people.  Pursuing that love, he relocated to Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories in January 2002, employed as the Economic Development Officer for Fort Liard, Trout Lake, and Nahanni Butte.  In that position, he worked closely with communities and entrepreneurs, and thoroughly enjoyed helping them become self-sufficient.Relocating to Whitehorse in August 2005, he spent a short time as the Acting Senior Business Development Advisor – Renewable Resources for the Government of Yukon before previous clients asked him to contract his services to them.  Pealow left Government of Yukon in June 2006 to establish a business and economic development consulting company.  Since then, the company has grown, taking on a wider variety of economic and business development-related projects ranging from community economic development strategies to impact and benefit agreement negotiations for self-governing First Nations. In 2016, he expanded his practice and now works primarily as a social innovation consultant and facilitator.

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Published

2017-09-16

Issue

Vol. 17

Section

Articles