The GO train not only drives the economic integration of the golden horseshoe, but has a major role in relieving traffic congestion on the QEW, reducing emissions, and promoting productivity by reducing the time spent commuting. However, practical all-day, year-round GO train service has yet to be delivered to Niagara. 

Niagara is a big tourist destination, but it doesn’t have an international airport, and any trip to Niagara is bookended by long overland trips to/from Toronto or Buffalo. 

The excise escalator tax increases federal alcohol excise duties automatically each year based on inflation, without parliamentary debate. While intended to simplify tax adjustments, this approach has had unintended consequences.

Despite the high skill and training involved in jobs in the performing arts, these are not included in formal apprenticeship programs, making training haphazard, non-standardized, and underfunded.

The Celebrate Ontario Blockbuster program leverages relatively small grants into huge economic impacts, particularly in the tourism sector, and there is room to expand this effectively.

The performing arts are a big economic driver, but live arts are not offered the same tax credits as those granted to recorded and broadcast arts.

Many downtown cores and urban areas not only in Niagara but across Ontario and Canada are facing economic depression and stagnation. Events and festivals have a proven track record of attracting tourist spending and creating business, which can be harnessed to revitalize these areas.

As Canada’s largest wine region, Niagara has the potential to develop a “supercluster” of industries that revolve around the wine sector – if given the proper supports to grow.

Taxes on Ontario wine are among the highest in the world, hampering the growth of this sector. Additionally, government financial supports for the wine industry are significantly lower than in other wine regions of the world, and Ontario wine has a much lower share of its own market than other world wines.