Little going on locally so far w ith "Come to life" initiative

Launched three years ago, Come to life was billed as a new brand that would help identify Nova Scotia in other parts of Canada and abroad, the goal being to promote the province as a great place to live and do business.

The idea is to have participation from the public and private sectors, making it a joint effort to try to bring more investment to Nova Scotia and enhance the province’s opportunities with regard to trade and economic development.

Charter membership in the Come to life initiative stood at 89 as of Feb. 13 and officials are looking for more participation.

Several signing ceremonies were held last fall and officials would like to able to do something similar in Yarmouth, although it could be awhile before they are in a position to do that, given the lack of Come to life activity at this end of the province.

“In the next month we’ll be contacting businesses – and some of these will be in the Yarmouth area – in hopes of getting their support and hopefully signing them on to charter membership in the spring,” said Stacey Jones-Oxner, an adviser with the Come to life program.

The plan too is to get the message out about Come to life to people in the economic development field.

“That’s kind of the approach we’re taking now,” Jones-Oxner said, “meeting with those people (who) work right in the communities and hopefully they can give us some feedback in how to make our next move and reach out to some businesses down your way.”

There is no fee for charter membership.

Members will be asked to do their part through, for example, carrying the Come to life logo on their business’s website, perhaps making the Come to life message part of their marketing efforts “and we, in turn, give them the tools to do that, like artwork, even pictures and images of the province to help them promote Nova Scotia too,” Jones-Oxner said.

John Hamm was still premier when the Come to life brand was introduced in March 2005.

“We know that our lifestyle is the best in Canada,” he said at the initiative’s launch. “We know we have a vibrant culture, innovative people, natural beauty and promising business opportunities. Now, we intend to tell our story to the rest of the world.”