In this edition:
- Niagara municipalities report back from provincial conference
- Niagara-on-the-Lake to lower speed limits on Monday
- Number of Niagara EI claimants up 10.5% year-over-year
- St. Catharines businesses hoping to make it past GO station expansion
- Ontario GDP grows 0.6% in Q1 2025, but latest economic indicators predict “negative results” for Q2
- Industrial product prices up 2.6% since 2024, driven by higher diesel costs
- Minister Anand meets with U.S. Secretary of State amid tariff tensions
- Focus on Housing Solutions
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Picture credit: City of St. Catharines / supplied
Niagara municipalities report back from provincial conference
Delegations from Niagara’s municipal governments represented their communities at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), taking the opportunity to lobby for local concerns at the provincial level.
St. Catharines, Lincoln, and West Lincoln issued reports on their meetings.
Picture credit: Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake to lower speed limits on Monday
This change is part of the Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities on local roads by creating safer conditions for residents, cyclists, tourists, and farm vehicles.
Picture credit: Khaohom Mali / Adobe Stock
Number of Niagara EI claimants up 10.5% year-over-year
The number of Niagara residents claiming Employment Insurance (EI) benefits has increased from 5,620 in June 2024 to 6,210 in June 2025, Statistics Canada reported today – an increase of 10.5%.
This increase is slower than the national rate, however, at 12.8%, tracking a 0.5 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate over the same period.
Photo credit: Regional Municipality of Niagara
St. Catharines businesses hoping to make it past GO station expansion
The GO expansion project in St. Catharines promises big changes — transforming the area around the railway station with better traffic flow, upgraded infrastructure and the potential to drive steady foot traffic to nearby shops and services.
But for some businesses caught in the middle of construction, the question isn’t about future benefits, it’s about survival.
Picture credit: Who is Danny / Adobe Stock
Ontario GDP grows 0.6% in Q1 2025, but latest economic indicators predict “negative results” for Q2
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO)’s latest Economic Monitor report found that in Q1 2025, Ontario’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by a solid 0.6% from the previous quarter, led by gains in international exports, household consumption and business investment in machinery and equipment, partially offset by lower residential investment.
However, the report continues, the latest economic indicators suggest mostly negative results for Ontario’s economy in the second quarter of 2025, with losses in employment, manufacturing sales, wholesale and retail trade, and international exports.
Picture credit: Tomasz Zajda / Adobe Stock
Industrial product prices up 2.6% since 2024, driven by higher diesel costs
Prices of products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), rose 0.7% month over month in July and increased 2.6% year over year, Statistics Canada reported today. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for refined petroleum energy products (+2.8%), specifically diesel fuel (+6.6%). The diesel price increase was primarily due to low distillate fuel stock levels.
Picture credit: Andrea Izzotti / Adobe Stock
Minister Anand meets with U.S. Secretary of State amid tariff tensions
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand had her first official meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Aug. 21 amid ongoing tensions in the bilateral relationship.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc cycled through Washington in July looking for a tariff off-ramp but instead U.S. President Donald Trump boosted duties on Canada to 35 per cent.
Focus on Housing Solutions
The Condo Crash
Ali Amad, Maclean’s
In the spring of 2022, Nizar Tajdin, a 41-year-old Montrealer, signed a deal he thought would set him up financially for years to come. On the advice of a realtor he’d met through a friend, Tajdin made a 10 per cent deposit on an $855,000 pre-construction condo. It was a 468-square-foot, one-bedroom unit in Toronto’s Forest Hill neighbourhood, a wealthy enclave not far from downtown. The project was scheduled for completion in 2024. But Tajdin didn’t intend to move into the condo, or even to close on the deal.
Instead, he planned to flip it before it was completed. Tajdin’s realtor—an agent named Rahim Hirji, who advertised himself as a specialist in “platinum pre-construction condos”—had devised the plan. It was called an assignment sale: the legal transfer of a purchase agreement to another buyer before closing, at a higher price than the seller originally paid. In essence, it means flipping a condo that doesn’t yet exist. Assignment sales had become a common hustle in the booming Toronto condo market. Tajdin says Hirji told him that he could make back double his deposit; he even offered to find a buyer in exchange for a fee.
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.
