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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After several years of outmoded script and outdated information, the government-run website aimed at attracting global and domestic investment and business to the Northwest Territories has been restored.

The new Invest NWT website highlights investment opportunities in the Northwest Territories. The site is online at www.investnwt.ca - NNSL screen shot

The GNWT Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment recently soft-launched the new investNWT.ca, with an advertising campaign to drive traffic to the website taking place over the next few weeks.

"We had this website up and running for the past 10 years or so but it was badly in need of a facelift," said Alexandrea Malakoe -- the business and trade officer who headed the Investnwt.ca and Investnwt.com revamp. "So in the past year we've undertaken to develop and redesign the website and we just recently relaunched it."

The Invest NWT website has not been updated since it was originally created, Malakoe said, and now has current information highlighting the territory's economic potential, prime areas for investment, and benefits of doing business in the NWT.

"Investment is crucial to sustain our economy and expand our service base," Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment David Ramsay said in a news release. "Entrepreneurs exploring joint ventures with aboriginal business partners, organizations seeking opportunities to develop sustainable businesses or industries in the NWT, or even those simply looking to make connections in the business community can turn to www.investnwt.ca as an important resource."

Richard Truscott, Alberta and NWT director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, called the website launch a "baby step."

"I would call it a baby step, even for babies," Truscott said. "It's maybe one tiny move forward but there's so much more that the government can and should be doing in order to attract investors, in order to improve the confidence levels among entrepreneurs and that's doing things like having a long-term tax plan, taking meaningful steps to cut red tape and also developing new strategies to help small business owners deal with the shortage of qualified labour."

The federation recently gave the territory an "F" in its annual Red Tape Report Card, and Truscott said despite how the investment environment is being billed on the website, relatively-speaking the NWT is "not typically seen as a great place to invest, to start a business, or to be a business owner," he said.

"(The website) is a small first step but really what they need to do is back it up with some meaningful new action to help combat some of these problems," Truscott said.

Amid scathing reports published by the federation and public policy think-tanks such as the Fraser Institute, the website offers a refreshing account of the business climate in the territory, Malakoe said, although the relaunch is not meant to dispel any particular perceptions.

"It's strictly an awareness campaign," Malakoe said. "A lot of people out there don't even know that the NWT is available for investment or is hoping to attract investment, so all we can do at this point is create awareness and hopefully the investors will come."

While the new website has not been online long enough to track traffic, Malakoe will be monitoring the effectiveness of the revamp through inquiries received about investment and anecdotal feedback from partners, who see the website as a useful tool, she said.

Partners involved in the development of the Invest NWT website include the NWT Chamber of Commerce, the NWT Construction Association, the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and the Conseil de développement économique des Territories du Nord-Ouest (CDETNO).

CDETNO is also working with the department on the French version of the site, scheduled to launch this spring.

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