Niagara makes Site Selection Magazine’s cut for Canada’s Top 20 Best Locations
- Home of Ontario’s first designated Foreign Trade Zone
- 1.86 million people within a 50km commuting radius
- Unmatched access to international airports, shipping lanes and border crossings
- Two leading post-secondary institutions, in Brock University and Niagara College
- Strong emerging sectors including computer systems design, architecture and engineering
Click here for more information.
Niagara-on-the-Lake will step up enforcement for short-term rentals
The Town is reminding Short Term Rental owners and operators that all Short Term Rental properties in Niagara-on-the-Lake must be licensed to operate. For more information about the Town’s licensing process and requirements, please visit notl.com/content/short-term-rentals. By-law Officers are actively enforcing the Town’s Short Term Rental By-law, including the use of unlicensed properties. Since the implementation of AMPS, or the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS), twelve (12) tickets have been issued to Short Term Rental operators.
Click here for more information (PDF link).
Niagara College Commercial Cannabis Production program granted Health Canada license to produce hemp
Niagara College’s Commercial Cannabis Production program is growing its comprehensive curriculum after acquiring a licence from Health Canada to cultivate industrial hemp.
A virtual jack of all trades among field and greenhouse crops, industrial hemp is a specific type of Cannabis sativa L. plant grown for a variety of uses, including home insulation, textiles, paper, biofuel, cannabidiol (CBD) for medical uses, and even food. Industrial hemp differs from cannabis produced for recreational purposes because it’s non-intoxicating, containing 0.3 per cent or less tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
The Election Section
Niagara federal vote projections
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Seats (Projection)
| Niagara Centre | Niagara Falls | Niagara West | St. Catharines | Canada (338canada) | Canada (CBC) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloc Quebecois | 7% (32 seats) | 6.8% (31 seats) | ||||
| Conservative Party | 30% | 38% | 46% | 32% | 31.4% (126 seats) | 31% (119 seats) |
| Green Party | 3% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.4% (2 seats) | 3.5% (1 seat) |
| Liberal Party | 35% | 31% | 29% | 36% | 31.9% (148 seats) | 31.5% (155 seats) |
| New Democratic Party | 24% | 21% | 14% | 23% | 19.3% (31 seats) | 19.1% (32 seats) |
| People's Party | 7.6% | 6% | 6.5% | 5.8% | 6% (0 seats) | 7% (0 seats) |
| Christian Heritage | - | - | 1.1% | - | - | - |
Data are provided by 338canada.com and the CBC using an aggregate of polls. Projections are updated daily. Click here for more information and margins of error.
Download the Canadian Chamber’s policy tracker, which summarizes party commitments made to date.
Niagara’s Prosperity Matters: Build a modern economy
The post-COVID economy will need to be more flexible and responsive, with better data and support for resilient and non-traditional business models.
The GNCC is calling on all parties to create a Ministry of Technology. The pandemic has highlighted both the need for Canadian investment in the digital economy, and illustrated how modern digital media facilitate the spread of misinformation. The government should establish a new dedicated both to nurturing and to oversight of the technology sector.
The GNCC also asks all parties to expand investments in broadband through the Universal Broadband Fund. Enabling more access to 5G internet in rural and remote communities such as some of those in Niagara will support job creation outside urban centres.
Click here to read more about the GNCC’s Niagara Prosperity Plan.
Investors tense up as fears of post-election gridlock rise in Canada
Reuters
Foreign investors are growing more worried that Canada’s federal election on Monday could result in a deadlock that hampers Ottawa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and further slows the economic recovery from the crisis.
Polls show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s center-left Liberals virtually tied with the opposition Conservatives ahead of the Sept. 20 vote, raising the prospect that no party will be able to form even a stable minority government. Adding to the uncertainty is an expected increase in mail-in voting that could delay the counting of ballots in some key electoral ridings.
Reading Recommendations
Why natural gas prices have surged to some of their highest levels in years
CBC News
Natural gas prices have climbed to some of their highest levels in years, with the increases expected to ripple into people’s gas bills as winter fast approaches.
A marriage of factors in North America and Europe — from summer storms to an overseas supply crunch — have contributed to sharp rise in the price of the fossil fuel.
Inside an Ontario ICU where the COVID-19 patients are largely young, and all unvaccinated
CTV News
The truth of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Canada is starkly clear inside the intensive care unit at Hamilton General, where the majority of the COVID-19 patients struggling on life support are young — and unvaccinated.
The team at Hamilton General invited CTV News inside the tense ICU in the hopes of giving Canadians a look at the reality they go through every week as Delta cases climb.
“I think it’s important for Canadians to see that this is real,” Dr. Sunjay Sharma, medical director of critical care, told CTV News. “None of these people thought two months ago they would end up here. And now they’re here. And some of them won’t survive.”
Niagara COVID-19 statistics tracker
These data show the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Niagara. The Province of Ontario is now using a provincewide approach to reopening, and these data no longer have any influence on Niagara’s restrictions. Lower numbers are better in all metrics.
| December 18 | December 25 | January 1 | January 8 | January 15 | January 22 | January 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive number | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| New cases per 100,000 | 101.2 | 267.3 | 469.8 | 575.8 | 507.1 | 295.5 | 250.6 |
| New cases per day (not including outbreaks) | 60.7 | 178.7 | 311.7 | 376.9 | 325.4 | 182.7 | 145.7 |
| Percent of hospital beds occupied | 97% | 95.2% | 98.2% | 103.2% | 104.5% | 103.6% | 106% |
| Percent of intensive care beds occupied | 78.8% | 77.3% | 87.9% | 87.9% | 90.9% | 89.4% | 93.9% |
| Percentage of positive tests | 6.1% | 15.6% | 28.1% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 21.2% | 16.2% |
Last updated: September 4, 2021
Click here for definitions of terms used in this table.
On September 15, there were 12 patients admitted to Niagara Health with COVID-19, of which 11 were unvaccinated, 0 were partially vaccinated, and 1 was fully vaccinated. There were 4 patients with COVID-19 in a Niagara Health Intensive Care Unit.
Over the last 28 days, a Niagara resident vaccinated with 1 dose was 4.2 times more likely to contract COVID-19, and an unvaccinated person was 7.5 times more likely.
Data are drawn from Niagara Region Public Health and Niagara Health.
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker
Niagara’s most up-to-date vaccination numbers are presented below, along with comparison data from Ontario, Canada, and G7 countries.
| Percentage of population with one dose | Percentage of population fully vaccinated | |
|---|---|---|
| Niagara | 82.7% | 78.2% |
| Ontario | 84.6% | 79.1% |
| Canada | 84.7% | 78.6% |
| United States | 75% | 64% |
| United Kingdom | 78% | 72% |
| Germany | 76% | 74% |
| France | 80% | 77% |
| Italy | 83% | 76% |
| Japan | 80% | 79% |
| World | 63% | 53% |
Total doses administered in Niagara: 682,181
New daily doses administered to Niagara residents: 1,138
Last updated: September 14, 2021
Data are drawn from Niagara Region, the Government of Ontario, and Oxford University’s Our World in Data project.
Free rapid COVID-19 testing kits are now available to businesses. Visit gncc.ca/workplace-self-screening-kits to learn more and reserve kits for your organization.
Information on government grants, resources, and programs, policies, forms, and posters for download and use, are available here. The GNCC is here to support you. Contact us with any questions you have.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
