{"id":11517,"date":"2024-03-08T12:18:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/?p=11517"},"modified":"2024-03-08T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T20:52:04","slug":"hearts-hands-people-business-the-making-of-a-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/oshawa-chamber-news\/hearts-hands-people-business-the-making-of-a-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearts & Hands: People, Business, & the Making of a Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning I had the great privilege of addressing a packed Regent Theatre<\/a> at the official Oshawa centenary celebration<\/a>.\u00a0 The invitation was for the Oshawa Chamber<\/a> to assist in telling the story of our city through the lens of the business community and its role in the growth of the City of Oshawa.\u00a0 When I finally sat down to draft this talk, I spent some time thinking about the most stripped-down, essential building blocks of community – hearts, hands, and daylight.\u00a0 Occasionally, business gets a bad rap in the broader societal narrative and so, alongside celebrating Oshawa’s 100th birthday, this was also a great opportunity to happily reflect on what a great enabler businesses, especially family businesses, are of community building.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s the speech, as presented this morning:<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, I am deeply honored to delve into the compelling history of our city through the lens of business – the relationship between our people, the local businesses they’ve built, and the vibrant community these elements have created together. \u00a0The story of Oshawa and its people is inseparable from the story of our many businesses and the impact of the people and families who created and operated them.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo from the first Oshawa Old Home Week, August 2024. The aim of Old Home Week was to invite former residents back each year for a reunion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although we\u2019re here today to celebrate 100 years of Oshawa being a City, it\u2019s worth noting Oshawa\u2019s history as a meeting place is much older. Going back slightly you\u2019ll learn that Oshawa was originally incorporated as a village in 1849.\u00a0 Before then, business, or as it was known as far back as the 1700\u2019s, \u201ctrade\u201d has now long been the connective tissue around which this community was built.\u00a0 Indigenous communities that first settled here did so because of its location within long held trade corridors. And, all of this early trade was enabled by the harbour, a massive and still-growing trade advantage that we continue to enjoy great benefit from in 2024.\u00a0 The ability to transport resources such as coal, and eventually asphalt, steel, concrete and other key enablers of prosperity have given Oshawa a competitive growth advantage, and the proof of that is all around us every day.<\/p>\n

But the harbour didn\u2019t build this city.\u00a0 People did that.\u00a0 The City of Oshawa is self-made.<\/p>\n

Oshawa’s journey began with a spirit of self-determination and resilience. Our city crest, emblazoned with ‘Labour and Prosper,’ echoes this sentiment.<\/p>\n

By now you may be wondering how far into this I could get before I mentioned the McLaughlins?\u00a0 By the way; does anyone here know if our carriage works is still the largest in the British Empire?<\/p>\n

The City\u2019s slogan, that core value to labour and prosper, <\/em>is rooted in the early endeavours of families like the McLaughlins. Their transition from the McLaughlin Carriage Works to General Motors of Canada is a cornerstone of our industrial heritage, embodying the drive and ambition, and indeed \u2013 innovation, that have come to define us.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than that: it is an epic, <\/em>Hollywood-scale tale of entrepreneurship that starts with a family\u2019s vision and perseverance.<\/p>\n

And yet, the backbone of Oshawa’s economy and – if you will, it\u2019s personality – has always been its smaller family businesses. However large the contribution of our industrial economy has been over decades of cyclical expansion and contraction, it has long been the small family businesses who have shaped Oshawa\u2019s place and identity.\u00a0 These are the people who form the community committees; who round up the volunteers, who sponsor our kids\u2019 sports and buy our collective Girl Guide cookies and it is their spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that propels us forward. Today, I want to highlight a few such pillars of our community, but also highlight that this is in no way a complete list:<\/p>\n