Government Continues to Support Ontario Businesses Through Extension of Eastern Ontario Development Program
Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, met with stakeholders from the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations (OACFDC) for their 20th annual conference on September 25th. It was noted that while Ontario has made significant progress (creating jobs and growing the economy) since 2009, Southern Ontario […]
The Correlation Between Lower Business Taxes and Employment
“It’s time we get the facts on the table. Business investment has been a key driver of economic and job growth over the past five years, and lower taxes have contributed significantly to that growth.” This statement, made by CME President and CEO Jayson Meyers, summarizes a recent analysis done by the Canadian Manufacturers and […]
Soft Patch in Canadian Economy
Canadian job creation stalled in October, while the national unemployment rate held at 7.4%. Closer analysis of the data reveals that the western provinces have had lower-than-average rates of unemployment, compared to higher-than-average rates of unemployment in Ontario and the eastern provinces. The western provinces had previously been driving economic growth with its resources (oil, […]
What can we learn from the failure of Kodak, Sears, and Newspapers?
In his recent article, Ken Doctor analyzes the slow disappearance of familiar brands such as Kodak, Sears, and various newspaper companies. These examples all illustrate the fact that “brands decay” and that “disruption doesn’t happen just once.” His “lessons learned” include: – Instead of trumpeting your own horn, spend the time to address future disruptive […]
What’s wrong with RIM?
An aging smartphone line, an inability to break out of the corporate niche, and the lack of any new product innovation are widely perceived to be eroding RIM’s business and stagnating growth. To achieve growth, many believed that RIM needed to branch out into the consumer sector; however, it may be too late as Apple is […]
The 2010 G20 Toronto Summit: Halving Deficits
This past weekend, Toronto hosted one of the G20 summits that have been occurring twice a year since 2008. One of the hot topics on the agenda was economic recovery after our recent recession, and due to the European debt crisis that is currently underway. While there was a divide among attendees about which was […]
Self-Employment on a Rise During Recession
Statistics Canada just released the results of a survey on self-employment in the recent recession – apparently there was an increase of people who are self-employed by over 4.3% between October 2008 and October 2009. Surprisingly, this is not solely a result of people being laid off, as paid employment fell by 3.3%. As well, […]
Aerospace Sector Soars Above Economic Turmoil
The aerospace and defense industry is one of the few sectors in manufacturing that is currently not only surviving but thriving amid the recession, despite the grim predictions for job losses and bankruptcies among other Canadian manufacturers, plummeting oil prices, and the ever fluctuating CDN dollar. Employment rates and revenue are even continually on the […]
AMIS – Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy
Lines of credit have almost completely dried up in this recession, and it’s harder than ever for businesses to fund their new development projects. Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy (AMIS) is a great venue for Ontario manufacturers to pursue. What’s more, AMIS is available to companies from all manufacturing sectors in Ontario. The $500 million […]
Ontario Provincial 2009 Budget
The proposed 2009 Ontario provincial budget, released March 26th, 2009, puts forward new tax measures intended to build on the government’s “5 point” economic plan. Understandably there is much controversy about the spending plans, and many Ontarians are expressing concern over the Sales Tax Harmonization, and how it will affect the individual. On a positive […]