The Ottawa Partnership has directed City of Ottawa staff to keep tinkering with several aspects of the economic plan. This has delayed the release of the final report, as well as the group's regular meeting, by at least two weeks.

Last week, TOP members got a look at the draft economic strategy, which is one of five components of the city's Ottawa 20/20 planning initiative.

The five components include the official plan, an arts and heritage plan, a human services plan, a corporate strategic plan and the economic strategy.

TOP, which is composed of representatives from the public and private sector, has been charged with drafting the report with the help of city staff.

"We've received the first draft of the consolidated economic strategy. We went through the contents and we've made some suggestions on the priorities. We're still not comfortable with the final document," says Kirk Mandy, who co-chairs the group with Mayor Bob Chiarelli. Specifically, the group wanted to rank, in terms of importance, 10 priorities that have been identified as initiatives that will help the city to grow.

In no particular order, the recommended priority actions are:

* provide strategic support for clusters to ensure that collaborative activity is initiated;

* increase two-way communication with the business community to improve customer service and improve access to assistance, information, technology and resources;

* develop a product-to-market culture throughout the business development cycle to ensure that Ottawa's innovations are successfully marketed as products and services;

* establish and strengthen supply chain linkages between cluster industries and local suppliers and between Ottawa food producers and local grocery stores and restaurants;

* move forward the expansion of the Congress Centre given its essential role in supporting conventions in the city;

* foster entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour throughout the economy, including development of Ottawa's cultural industries and facilitating commercial applications of research for public sector institutions;

* develop a rural communication strategy to communicate effectively with businesses in the rural area;

* build bridges between Ottawa's research and academic institutions to develop a flow of ideas that increases collaboration and synergy;

* implement the broadband plan and the talent plan recommendations.

The last two components of the plan (broadband and talent), however, were endorsed, Mandy says.

TOP member Shirley Westeinde says as far as she is concerned, the expansion of the Ottawa Congress Centre should top the list of priorities. "I definitely think the Congress Centre should be the priority," she says.

In fact, Mandy says TOP members unanimously agreed on this. The report is being changed to reflect this opinion.

"The city is working on a very, very short timeline, and this is not a trivial task. We've come a long way on the whole thing. We're generally happy, but we're anxious to see the next revision," says Mandy.

The report also outlines seven benchmarks that will measure the city's success. These benchmarks include a strong and diverse local economy; participation and accessibility to city hall; prosperity, equity between rural and urban citizens; sustainability and quality of life.

"What we have released is simply a draft," says Michael Murr, the city's director of business development. He says there will be an opportunity for public input this month.

by Kate Chappell