Prince Rupert among the top ten possible places to invest your business dollar!

The National Post celebrated Canada Day in an different style, from its Financial Post website comes this interesting look at where the boom is going to be and where an investor may wish to place their money to earn the highest possible return.

Using that ubiquitous Canadian icon the Tim Horton’s donut shop, the Post highlighted how if an investor had put his or her money into a Tim’s location in Fort McMurray before its boom you would be sitting on a pretty pile of cash today. The top ten list also uses the donut chain as a bell weather indication of boom times (it points out that those cities that are on the cusp of a boom tend to attract quite a few of the donut store locations in a quick period of time)

Not sure exactly how that translates into big financial gains for Podunk, (other than a sudden surge in Tim’s locations to come our way we assume) but its an interesting view of where the financial press thinks the next big thing may come from.

The future is now article, like many of the same in the past, turns to Don Krusel to explain the indicators that are going to make the city boom (poor Herb, suddenly the always willing to talk guy isn’t on speed dial anymore), Krusel of course speaks of the container port and the engine to the local economy that it will soon become.

Of course all of this wild speculation is still missing one key ingredient for folks hanging around Podunk for the better days to come, Jobs! While everyone keeps telling us that the boom is just around the corner, at the moment there’s little actual improvement in the jobs sector.

Perhaps that’s to come in a future report..

For now here’s the National Post report section that dealt with the genesis of the article and the portion pertaining to Podunk.

Coast to coast to cash

Canada's Top 10: Anyone with the foresight to set up a Tim Horton’s in Fort McMurray, Alta., before the oil sands bonanza could have raised enough cash to trade in their Timbits for a time share in the Bahamas. Indeed, for small business owners, one key to making a killing in Canada's booming economy is to get in on the ground floor. Here the Financial Post's Emily Mathieu provides a west-to-east look at 10 towns and cities on the cusp of a boom where an entrepreneur might want to set up shop -- sooner rather than later.

Emily Mathieu, Financial Post
Published: Saturday, July 01, 2006

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1 PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. Population: 13,707; Average home price $152,610; Tim Hortons: 1; Business behind the boom: New container terminal at seaport.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority is moving to overtake the Port of Vancouver by 2010 through the construction of two container terminals. "Everything that we do at the port authority has a big and very profound impact on the community," said its president, Don Krusel. Terminal One will have room for 250 jobs on site.

Phase Two of the terminal, scheduled for completion by 2010, will add an additional 600 to 700 jobs. Canadian National Railway Co. will also be building a new rail line to transport goods from the new terminals, which will add $193-million to the economy.

There is also the Prince Rupert cruise ship terminal. It was built in 2003, and by last year 54 ships stuffed with tourists had brought a total of $10-million into the local economy.