Common Council
City of Saint John
15 Market Square
C.P. 1971
Saint John, NB E2L 4L1

Your Worship and Councillors,

On behalf of the propelsj Board of Directors, I am writing to you to express our strong support for the municipality to sell the former Lantic Sugar site, at fair market value, to facilitate a possible transaction between Irving Oil Ltd. and the Saint John Port Authority.

The current demands for talent in our local Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry are high and we have an unprecedented opportunity to grow the ICT sector and other creative sectors of our economy. In late 2006, propelsj surveyed ICT businesses in the area and discovered that 1,300 new jobs could be created in the Saint John area alone in the coming five years. Since then, demand for talent has accelerated further and we need a vibrant community to attract the talent we need.

We believe the Irving plan for Long Wharf that will result from the Memorandum of Understanding announced this spring is progressive, visionary, and should provide the tipping point for development of our downtown. It is also the result of the right motivation: a focus on people, and keeping them connected to the heart of our city as we rebuild the urban magnet for the creative professionals we need to realize our community goals.

We believe the benefits to putting the world headquarters of one of our city's most important corporations on our prime real estate is good for our community and for revitalizing our urban core.

Rebirth is a process and this is an exciting step. This is a good thing.

Sincerely,

Jeff Roach
Executive Director, propelsj

propelsj Directors:
Richard Jones
Patricia Connolly
Anthony Hardt
Rick MacPhee
Gerry Pond
Dave Grebenc
Anita Punamiya
Henryk Sterniczuk
Chris Nadeau
James C Irving
David Baxter