Thoughts and Opinions On Today's Important Issues

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Can It Get Any Worse


No PR team can help us now. There is only one thing that can and the three levels of Government on our side of the border will not permit it to be built yet!

BLOGGERS can not be responsible for this. Failure of our political leadership to provide a Plan for economic diversity is the cause!

Oh well, Eddie can have more media interviews with the National press to re-inforce our negative image. At least there is a silver lining. For him.

Oh, do we have a new Undevelopment Commission CEO yet?
  • Canadian cities hit hard by downturn with Windsor leading way to bottom

    June 16, 2009

    OTTAWA - The Conference Board is naming the auto manufacturing town of Windsor, Ont., as ground zero of the economic recession.

    The Ottawa-based think-tank says the slump is punishing small and medium-sized towns across Canada, but none so much as Windsor, which is expected to see its economy contract 5.6 per cent this year.

    By contrast, most economists estimate the national economy will shrink by about 2.5 per cent in 2009 compared with last year.

    In its analysis of 14 small and medium-sized cities, the Conference Board says Ontario's manufacturing communities are suffering the most.

    Among the eight hardest hit, seven are in Ontario. The exception is St. John's, N.L., which will experience a 3.6 per cent gross domestic product retreat this year due to sharply reduced oil production.

    The other members of the slumping eight are Sudbury, Ont., at minus 4.0 per cent, Thunder Bay, Ont., minus 3.1, London, Ont., at minus 2.8 per cent, St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont., minus 2.7 per cent, Kitchener, Ont., minus 2.6 per cent and Oshawa, minus 2.5 per cent.

    Of the 14 cities studied nationally, only Saint John, N.B., will experience growth this year, although modest 0.9 per cent.

    The Conference board says all 14 communities will return to growth over the next four years, led by Oshawa with a four per cent gross domestic product advance.

PS. Here is a quote I saw in another article about this story:

  • "Alan Arcand, an economist with the Conference Board, said cities that are less diverse economically -- like Windsor -- are having the most trouble during the current recession. Other examples of this in Ontario, he said, include Sudbury, with its reliance on mining, and Thunder Bay, with its forestry-centred economy."