Mark's going west

Mark Barsanti, associate dealer of the Sault’s Canadian Tire store at 200 McNabb Street, is going west.

“I was given an offer to take a store in Cold Lake, Alberta in May (2014) and when I went out and visited the community and looked at the opportunity, I decided that was the right move for me,” said Barsanti, a Sault native, speaking to SooToday.

“I’ve lived in many cities and visited many cities in Canada and the Sault is a fantastic place, it will always be considered home for me. My family’s here, my wife’s family is here, and many of our friends are here, the decision to move was strictly a business decision.”

Barsanti left Sault Ste. Marie in 1999 during an economically-challenging time in the community’s history and, over the years, was associate dealer of Canadian Tire stores in southern Ontario and Nova Scotia.

He returned to the Sault and became associate dealer of the local Canadian Tire store in 2012.

Barsanti, who became Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce President in January 2014, said he will continue serving in that role until his term expires in June.

“I’m going to participate as I’m able to from Cold Lake in any meetings by Skype for the last three months of my term, and I told the folks at the Chamber that I would be certainly more than pleased to continue to contribute to the community through the Chamber and they’re more than welcome to call on me.”

“I plan on keeping myself fully informed on what‘s happening here because this is my hometown,” Barsanti said.

Monica Dale, the Chamber’s First Vice President, will succeed Barsanti as president when his term expires.

Barsanti began his term as chamber president calling for a closer working relationship between city council and the chamber.

He called on council and city staff to help Sault entrepreneurs establish and grow their own businesses by cutting what he felt was excessive bureaucratic red tape.

“I’ve seen a change in the discourse in the community. I can’t say that I’ve seen any hard changes because it’s been too soon, but for sure I’ve seen a change in the conversation in the community around the relationship between businesses and entrepreneurs,” Barsanti said.

“That’s a positive step and I really think the new mayor and council are going to be moving things in the right direction in terms of their relationship with business.”

“For sure what we need to do is re-balance the amount the industrial and commercial taxpayers pay as an overall percentage of the city budget in order to attract more investment into the community,” Barsanti said.

The new associate dealer of the Sault Canadian Tire store will be taking over February 26.

Barsanti will officially begin running the Cold Lake Canadian Tire store March 4.

(PHOTO: Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce Treasurer Ron Spadoni, Chamber President Mark Barsanti, First Vice President Monica Dale and Chamber General Manager Shelley Barich, Civic Centre, January 6, 2014. Darren Taylor/SooToday)