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

• Main Author: Pealow, Michael
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Waterloo 2017
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/pced/article/view/3843

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