In this edition:
- Niagara unemployment rate ticks up to 7.6%, following provincial and national trends
- Queen’s Park issues Request for Proposals on Garden City Skyway project
- Lincoln businesses encouraged to apply for 2024 Niagara Benchlands Destination Development Fund
- Prime Minister announces new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund
- Government of Canada “disappointed” at border services strike vote
- Niagara Regional Police announce road closures for April 8 eclipse event
- Niagara needs to double down on primary care: NHS President
- Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Niagara unemployment rate ticks up to 7.6%, following provincial and national trends
Niagara’s unemployment rate increased to 7.6% in March 2024, Statistics Canada reported today. This was the second consecutive increase after a slight dip in January. The unemployment rate has been slowly increasing since a low of 4% one year ago, in March 2023.
Canada’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 per cent in March as more people looked for work. The figure is up from 5.8 per cent in February and marks the largest increase in the unemployment rate since summer 2022. Statistics Canada says the rise in the jobless rate was driven by an increase of 60,000 people searching for work or temporarily laid off.
Today’s report shows job losses last month were concentrated in accommodation and food services, followed by wholesale and retail trade and professional, scientific and technical services.
Youth are particularly feeling the chill in the labour market. Employment among those aged 15 to 24 declined by 28,000 in March and the jobless rate for the group rose to 12.6 per cent, the highest it’s been since September 2016, outside of 2020 and 2021.
While Ontario’s unemployment rate also increased, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli highlighted Ontario’s 26,100 new jobs created last month, including 11,400 jobs in the construction sector and 7,100 jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Click here to access Statistics Canada’s interactive Labour Force Survey app.
Queen’s Park issues Request for Proposals on Garden City Skyway project
The Ontario government has issued a Request for Proposals to advance the expansion of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) Garden City Skyway.
The Skyway expansion includes construction of a new four-lane, 2.2-kilometre bridge across the Welland Canal, as well as the rehabilitation and full deck replacement of the current bridge. Once complete, each bridge will have four lanes with the new bridge carrying Toronto-bound traffic and the upgraded existing bridge carrying Niagara-bound traffic.
Lincoln businesses encouraged to apply for 2024 Niagara Benchlands Destination Development Fund
The Niagara Benchlands Destination Development Fund is now open for the 2024 season!
The Fund will be used to help support new and expanded projects and foster innovative, capacity-building tourism products and initiatives that have a measurable impact on Lincoln’s tourism economy.
Eligible for funding are tourism-based businesses and organizations within the municipal boundaries of the Town of Lincoln. These include for-profit businesses, not-for-profit businesses, public sector agencies, and private sector agencies contributing to Lincoln’s diverse tourism economic value chain.
Applications for the 2024 Niagara Benchlands Destination Development Fund are being accepted until Monday, May 6, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. Interested parties can find the application form and guidelines at Lincoln.ca.
Prime Minister announces new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced a package of over $600 million to make it easier and cheaper to build more homes.
These measures, from the upcoming Budget 2024, include:
- Launching a new $50 million Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund.
- Delivering $50 million to modernize and expedite home building through the regional development agencies.
- Delivering $500 million to support rental housing.
- Launching a modernized Housing Design Catalogue.
This announcement follows similar news this week, including a $15 billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund, and a $400 million top-up to the Housing Accelerator Fund.
Government of Canada “disappointed” at border services strike vote
In a media release issued today by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Government of Canada said that “it is disappointing to see that the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has chosen to call a strike vote for employees from the Canada Border Services Agency (Border Services FB group).”
On April 10 and 22, 2024, the employer and PSAC are attending Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearings at the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. Following these hearings, the PIC, a third-party body that includes a union nominee, will make recommendations to the employer and PSAC to help reach a settlement.
The union represents six hundred Canada Border Services workers stationed in Niagara, who could potentially walk off the job after a successful strike vote.
Niagara Regional Police announce road closures for April 8 eclipse event
Planning for the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse remains ongoing in the Niagara Region to have a safe and enjoyable event. To allow for the safety of pedestrians, traffic management, and the movement of emergency vehicles, the Niagara Regional Police have announced that there will be planned road closures in the City of Niagara Falls and the Town of Fort Erie.
The police also noted that unplanned road closures could also occur on the day itself, according to their ongoing assessment of the event.
Click here to see the list of planned road closures.
Niagara needs to double down on primary care: NHS President
According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, by 2026, an estimated four million Ontarians will be without a family doctor, Niagara Health President and Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Guerriero and ED physician at the Marotta Family Hospital in St. Catharines, Dr. Ryan Chadwick wrote in an op-ed published today.
Currently, 2.3 million individuals are navigating the complexities of their health without a primary care provider, and the strain on hospitals is palpable.
In order to see positive, long-term change in the health care system, Guerriero and Chadwick said, we have to double down on what we know is the best primary care, and that is comprehensive, team-based care.
Did you know?
Focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Neurodiversity in the workplace: a strengths-based approach
Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is a priority for ethical employers who want to optimize productivity and leverage the full potential of their workforce.
Fairness and inclusion in the workplace also provide a sense of psychological safety for all employees, which helps them thrive at work.
With that in mind, how should we embrace neurodiversity in the workplace?
How can the workforce in general be more accepting and understanding, and how can management promote a neuroinclusive workplace?
To help employers, managers, and HR professionals out, we’ve created this special article on neurodiversity in the workplace. It explains the neurodiversity paradigm and different neurotypes.
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.
