http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=901127 

A new website designed to attract immigrants to Sarnia-Lambton should be up and running this summer.

And local politicians say it has the potential to lure badly needed workers including more doctors to the region.

Lambton County has been collecting information from the local business and industrial sectors for months now in a bid to develop the website.

The content, which is being put together with the assistance of a $300,000 grant from the Ontario government, is designed to help people from outside the country understand what skill sets are needed in Sarnia-Lambton and what training is available here.

The county, the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and the Sarnia-Lambton Workforce Development Board have been busy assembling information.

"The development of the site is currently on target to be completed by June 2008," county systems analyst Ken Bulgin said in a report to county council. After a period of testing, it is anticipated the site will be ready to launch in July, he said.

Sarnia Coun. Anne Marie Gillis welcomes the initiative, saying the community can't compete for new Canadians by using old methods.

"The Internet is the tool everyone is using," she said. "We, as a county, need to get on board."

She added the region is currently at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting immigrants because it doesn't have a large ethnic population to act as a magnet.

"We're trying to make it more attractive for people to come to Lambton County," she said. "The City of Windsor has a large ethnic community that draws people. We don't really have that here anymore. We've got to do this to get on the radar screen because, right now, we're not on it."

Gillis said there was a time when a large number of engineers from around the globe worked in the Chemical Valley. But with downsizing of the petrochemical industry, that situation has changed.

Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Lonny Napper agrees the new website has the potential to help the local economy.

"New people interested in coming into the county will be able to access everything," he said. "It will be very helpful to them and it could help all of us."

Napper said it's important to make people feel as comfortable as possible about coming here. "I guess it would feel a little strange to come to a small town," he said.

Although Napper doesn't expect to see a flood of immigrants as a result of the website, he said it could help attract doctors and other highly skilled people.

Bulgin said the county has signed an agreement with Cyberplex to complete the design and programming of the portal.

"Development of the site design is well underway," he said in his report. "A preliminary design has been created and is currently being reviewed by the immigration portal team."