Originally published May 8, 2018
\nWritten by Gary Valcour<\/p>\n
The Government\u00a0Relations Committee\u2019s\u00a0agendas are often chocka-\u00a0block, none more so\u00a0than the meeting on\u00a0April 12, last. As readers\u00a0of this column know,\u00a0the GR committee is\u00a0committed to pressing all\u00a0levels of government to\u00a0find innovative ways to\u00a0bring more business and\u00a0industry to the City and the\u00a0Region. We have often\u00a0expressed our concerns\u00a0about what we believe to\u00a0be a dangerous imbalance\u00a0between tax revenues\u00a0generated through\u00a0residential development\u00a0vs those generated by a\u00a0shrinking commercial and\u00a0industrial sector. In that\u00a0vein, through the economic\u00a0development office of the\u00a0region and in response to\u00a0questions we had regarding\u00a0proposed changes to the\u00a0Region\u2019s Development\u00a0Charges by-law, the region\u00a0offered to have someone\u00a0come to answer questions\u00a0in person and provide a\u00a0background presentation.\u00a0We were surprised to see\u00a0six (6) senior Regional staff\u00a0members arrive led by\u00a0Mary Simpson. Ms Simpson\u00a0and her colleagues\u00a0offered an interesting slide\u00a0presentation and answered\u00a0some of our questions. We\u00a0have sent additional follow\u00a0up questions which remain\u00a0unanswered as of this\u00a0writing.<\/p>\n
While we were told that\u00a0our Development Charges\u00a0were the lowest of all\u00a0surrounding regions, there\u00a0was no answer to why,\u00a0then, we were losing new\u00a0industry and commercial\u00a0development to other\u00a0jurisdictions. If the answer\u00a0is not in \u201cdevelopment\u00a0charges\u201d where does it\u00a0lie. Perhaps these are\u00a0questions to be asked of\u00a0those running for local and\u00a0regional office this fall.<\/p>\n
The Committee was\u00a0reminded of the Durham\u00a0Transportation Roundtable\u00a0scheduled for April 24,\u00a02018. Yours truly had the\u00a0privilege of attending that\u00a0event and acting as a\u00a0moderator. This was an\u00a0excellent event and kudos\u00a0go to all the organizers and\u00a0especially the folks from\u00a0the Ajax Pickering Board\u00a0of Trade who took the\u00a0lead. The key topics were\u00a0Road Infrastructure issues\u00a0and needs, Public Transit\u00a0(GO, VIA, DRT) issues and\u00a0needs, Access to Airports\u00a0(including discussion of\u00a0Pickering proposals as well\u00a0as the Oshawa Executive\u00a0Airport) and Ports. The final topic was a look at \u201cfuture\u00a0technologies and their\u00a0impact on transportation in\u00a0our region\u201d The assembled\u00a0group represented\u00a0thousands of businesses in\u00a0the region and covered\u00a0virtually every sector of\u00a0commerce and industry.\u00a0Among the outcomes\u00a0was a commitment by\u00a0ALL chambers and boards\u00a0of trade to try to speak\u00a0with one voice on these\u00a0critical infrastructure issues\u00a0and to press our individual\u00a0municipalities to work\u00a0cooperatively in the best\u00a0interests of the whole\u00a0region on these important\u00a0topics. To that end a\u00a0letter has been sent to\u00a0Premier Wynne outlining our\u00a0concerns on these topics\u00a0and urging the Province\u00a0to recognize the need for\u00a0significant future investment\u00a0in the region as it grows\u00a0more important to our\u00a0provincial economic wellbeing.\u00a0Other letters will be\u00a0sent to local and regional\u00a0councilors highlighting the\u00a0overarching importance\u00a0of speaking with one voice\u00a0on critical transportation\u00a0issues. Certainly, individual\u00a0Chambers and Boards\u00a0of Trade will highlight the\u00a0specifics of these overall\u00a0concerns in their bailiwick.\u00a0However, I was gratified to\u00a0see the unanimous support\u00a0for the Port of Oshawa and a\u00a0recognition that it is an\u00a0under-utilized economic\u00a0jewel and encouraging\u00a0the City and the region to\u00a0support the building of an\u00a0additional access road\u00a0to facilitate operations\u00a0and allow for economic\u00a0expansion which would\u00a0benefit the whole region.\u00a0In a similar vein, the whole\u00a0group supported a call for\u00a0the Oshawa Council to\u00a0review its current constraints\u00a0on the Oshawa Executive\u00a0Airport in order to unleash\u00a0its full economic potential.<\/p>\n
In other news, it was\u00a0noted that the Port had\u00a0received its first foreign\u00a0ship of the season through\u00a0the Seaway and the year\u00a0is off to a good start. The\u00a0committee heard a request\u00a0from OPG for support for\u00a0its renewal application\u00a0for the Pickering license\u00a0which expires in August this\u00a0year. Renewal would allow\u00a0operation to continue until\u00a02024 then allow for a 3-year,\u00a0safe storage period. The\u00a0committee recommended\u00a0that the Board support\u00a0the application with a\u00a0letter and hopefully a\u00a0personal attendance at\u00a0the application hearing. It\u00a0should be noted that the\u00a0OPG representative on the\u00a0GR Committee recused\u00a0herself on this vote.<\/p>\n
In addition to everything\u00a0else, the Committee\u00a0members were asked to\u00a0review a proposal made\u00a0by the \u201cGreater Toronto\u00a0Board of Trade\u201d with\u00a0respect to the creation\u00a0of a \u201cSuper-Metrolinx\u201d.\u00a0The basic idea would see\u00a0Metrolinx disbanded and a\u00a0new \u201csuper\u201d organization\u00a0created by amalgamating\u00a0every municipal transit\u00a0organization from the east\u00a0end of Durham to Kitchener\u00a0Waterloo in the west and\u00a0including every place down\u00a0to Hamilton. All revenues\u00a0from all these \u201cformer\u201d\u00a0groups would stream into\u00a0the new super group and\u00a0the new entity would\u00a0be governed through a\u00a0board composed as set\u00a0out by Toronto\u2019s concept.\u00a0The Committee was not\u00a0impressed. We noted that\u00a0none of the Chambers\/BOTs east of Toronto had\u00a0been consulted prior to\u00a0issuing the proposal and\u00a0this, it was felt, did not\u00a0auger well for changing\u00a0the current imbalance\u00a0of investment between\u00a0regions west of Toronto\u00a0and those to the east. The\u00a0Committee recommended\u00a0that the GOCC not support\u00a0the proposal as presented\u00a0and to make that clear\u00a0especially at the upcoming\u00a0OCC AGM in Hamilton from\u00a0April 26 to April 29th.<\/p>\n
Finally, the Committee\u00a0was asked to consider\u00a0a request for a letter of\u00a0support for something\u00a0called the \u201cDurham\u00a0Innovation Hub\u201d. While\u00a0the committee members\u00a0were supportive of the\u00a0idea of an innovation hub,\u00a0in the absence of better\u00a0(or any) information about\u00a0how it would be funded\u00a0and governed or located\u00a0and on what basis those\u00a0decisions would be made,\u00a0we could not endorse an\u00a0unqualified letter of support\u00a0at this time.<\/p>\n
Our next GR committee\u00a0meeting is scheduled for\u00a0Thursday, May 10, 2018 at\u00a08:00 a.m. in the Chamber\u00a0Board Room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Originally published May 8, 2018 Written by Gary Valcour The Government\u00a0Relations Committee\u2019s\u00a0agendas are often chocka-\u00a0block, none more so\u00a0than the meeting on\u00a0April 12, last. As readers\u00a0of this column know,\u00a0the GR committee is\u00a0committed to pressing all\u00a0levels of government to\u00a0find innovative ways to\u00a0bring more business and\u00a0industry to the City and the\u00a0Region. We have often\u00a0expressed our concerns\u00a0about what we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10987,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions\/10987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oshawachamber.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}