Economy: Sustainable Economy

• Lifestyle: Rural/small town lifestyle and quality of place. Safe area with low crime. Access to locally grown food. Many no-cost attractions.
• Location: Located centrally between the major urban centres of Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Syracuse. Proximity to Hwy 401 (major E/W highway system through Ontario.) Close proximity to markets in Belleville and Kingston that could be leveraged more effectively.
• Physical: 800 km waterfront, natural beauty, beaches, varied landscapes.
• Transportation: Public transit system. Deep water port at Picton Harbour. Air strip.
• Human capital: Large active volunteer base. Inflow of highly experienced and skilled early retirees. Entrepreneurial spirit. A strong network of stakeholders and organizations that are committed to the community’s success.
• Arts & Culture: A rich cultural and built heritage. Creative rural economy. Vibrant arts community with national and global profile that has existed for decades, including successful showcase events including festivals. A tangible sense of pride.
• Access to Education: Queen’s University, Loyalist College, First Nations Technical Institute, Prince Edward Learning Centre (basic literacy skills, job pretraining and connections)
• Health Care: A local hospital and a municipally managed long-term care facility that are being replaced by state-of-the-art facilities. Proactive Family Health Team.
• Low Property Tax and Building Permit Fees(BMA Management Consulting Inc. Annual Municipal Study 2020)
  
• Surplus Land & Buildings: An inventory of municipally owned surplus land and buildings that could be used to attract business and investment

Demographics

• Increasing senior population – implications for health care resources.
• Decreasing working-age population impacts local labour force.
• Changing Sense of Place
• Protecting the County’s culture, identity and quality of life

Labour Force

• Seasonal employment and short operating season for tourism businesses
• Shortage of educated and skilled labour force.

Housing

• Lack of housing choice and affordability – the PEC median house price is higher than in neighbouring regions.
• One of the lowest vacancy rates in Ontario – competition is short-term accommodation and second homes. Local businesses are short-staffed as a result of housing issues.

Economy

• Development and maintenance of a diversified economic base that is inclusive and innovative and does not rely on a single industry or major employer
• Retention and expansion of successful enterprises and entrepreneurs based in PEC
• Serviced industrial land is inadequate to attract large scale investment
• Municipal fiscal and budgetary pressures
• Development of a vision of the County that is wholistic rather than divisive.
• PEC is subject to low growth projections for population, limited growth potential for the property tax base and limited growth potential from revenue sources other than the local tax base.

Business succession planning

• In Canada, 80% of businesses are family-owned and are responsible for 60% of Canada’s annual GDP. 80% of businesses in Canada are expected to change hands in the next 10 years. (Family Enterprise Exchange) With this turnover as older business owners look to exit the market, there is a risk of losing control locally.

Geography

• Maintenance of infrastructure: 1,200 km. of roads with a low-density tax base.
• Lack of infrastructure including broadband.
• Dispersed population results in limited county-wide public transportation system.
• Population clusters along the north shore largely support the economy outside of PEC
• Remoteness from large urban centres and thus the lack of industry supply chains and employment opportunities.
• Protection of primary agricultural lands.

Tourism

• Exponential growth for past 10 years.
• Over-reliance on tourism-related industries.
• Visitation is surging during peak tourism season to levels that stress our destination’s carrying capacity.
• Growing discord among residents and visitors with the volume, impact and perceived negative outcomes. Council is responding through Tourism Management Planning and Destination Master Planning.
• There are both direct and indirect benefits to tourism in Prince Edward County that are not widely understood or appreciated and do not necessarily benefit everyone.

Loss of farmland and farmers

• In the past decade, PEC's cropland acreage decreased by 8.23% or 7,105 acres. (Farmers Forum) Every day Ontario loses 319 acres of farmland to non-agricultural land uses like urban development and aggregate extraction. (Ontario Farmland Trust)
• In PEC, the average age of farmers is 58.4 ..... but 63% of PEC farms do NOT have succession plans. (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2021) Will this farmland remain in use for agriculture?