HomeMy WebLinkAboutEcon Dev Adv 2009-01-28
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
January 28, 2009 City of Kitchener
The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by
Councillor Christina Weylie; the following members were in attendance: Alan
Anderson, Bernie Nimer, Howie Budd, Mary Alkerton, Steven Voll, Bob Denton,
Len Carter, Brent Richardson, Jeremy Auger, Dan Piedra, Mark Bingeman, and
Peter Benninger, Rebecca Short
The following people sent their regrets: Mark Collins, Adrian Conrad
The following people were absent: Ian Cook
Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Valerie Bradford, Tracey DeVille, Silvia Wright,
Cory Bluhm, Janice Ouellette, Jeff Willmer, Terry Boutilier
1. Minutes & Agenda
2.
That the minutes of the November and December meetings be approved
Moved and Carried.
Update on the Downtown Advisory Committee
3. Business Arising / Updates
Member Introduction
Councillor C. Weylie welcomed everyone and asked that members and city staff
introduce themselves and provided a brief background on how they fit into the
Economic Development Advisory Committee.
Consensus Building for Advisory Committees
Janice Ouellette provided an overview of consensus building and thanked the
members for volunteering and providing both their time and expertise to the
Committee.
The Committee had no comments or questions and thanked Janice.
Advisory Committee Roles
Tracey DeVille went through the handouts of information with the Committee
members. There was a general discussion on the committee.
Co-Chair Nominations
Rod Regier asked for interested parties to show their interest in being appointed /
nominated as Co-Chair.
The following people put forward their names:
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Adrian Conrad was nominated as Chair
?
Councillor Christina Weylie was nominated
?
Ian Cook was nominated as Co-Chair
?
Jeremy Auger was nominated – would think about it
The Committee agreed that since the previous chair was absent from today’s
meeting that members put forward nominations for chair and that a vote be
completed by email once those nominated confirm their interest.
Action:
Tracey DeVille to follow up with committee members by email
2009 Calendar & Agenda Planning Discussion
Labour Force Discussion
Rod advised the Committee that Jeanette MacDonald was absent from the
meeting today and he provided a brief discussion on the labour force and the
data that has emerged over the last month, specifically have a discussion
regarding the information that has been released.
Rod went through the current labour force survey and explained the data on the
handouts.
The Committee provided the following feedback / questions:
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The Waterloo Region employment market has been performing well
relative to many others
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Substantial opportunities for employment within Kitchener and the Region
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Is there a definition of employed that Statistics Canada uses:
yes the question is are you working or are you not working, the
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more detailed aspect of specific employment are broken down later
?
Are people coming here to look for work are do they move here because
they already have a job?
The Labour Council is doing a study and preliminary results are
o
showing that this area is one of the fastest growing and there are
good numbers of people who are coming here to find work. Our
unemployment rate up until 6 months ago was under 6% - these
new numbers we have not seen in a while and they numbers will
come down. The demographics of the work force will show they
are willing to move on a whim without question
?
Talent is an important focus of our Economic Development Strategy
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Internationally trained Immigrants are important to the committee,
Kitchener supports the WRIEN in this regard
?
The arts & culture community is also something that people are attracted
to within the Region
?
Job losses within manufacturing have been increasing. Recently actual
factories have been closing and that will present problems in the long run
because its much more difficult to restart a plant than bring back layed off
workers to a plant that is still running
?
Real Estate market has softened within the last few months but the prices
are stable, as for the commercial side it is still busy with long term plans
from many developers
?
Long term developers are sensing major location decisions have been put
on hold waiting to see if there is any stabilization in the economy
?
Globally high tech sector is doing layoffs – companies that have
historically not had to do that, there is certainly a microclimate of high tech
within this area that does not necessarily affect the tech companies within
the Region
?
Within the Retail industry, although December 08 was not that good it was
not as bad as expected. January sales have fallen significantly and
layoffs are starting to hit permanent as well as temporary employees.
Large retailers are bracing a substantial short term decline in sales and
expect some retailers go.
Rod handed out some background information regarding the Digital Media
Centre (Canadian Centres for Excellence) and the CECR funding awarded to
Communitech and its partners in January.
GO Transit EA process – next information centre will be happening on February
5, 2009 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at the corner of Queen and Weber.
Request that the committee have a tour of the new School of Pharmacy.
Action Item: Plan for a tour of the School of Pharmacy later in the year.
On motion, the meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
Next meeting date: Wednesday February 25, 2009